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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24020860">Bright eyes</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/JAinsel/pseuds/JAinsel'>JAinsel</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Androids [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Shameless (US)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Robots &amp; Androids, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Android!Mickey, Androids, Angst with a Happy Ending, First Time, Guess what Terry's a prick, Ian does maintenance and enhancements on androids, M/M, Masturbation, Mickey is an accountant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Robots rights issue, Sex Androids, Sexual Content</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-03 00:35:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>41,784</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24020860</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/JAinsel/pseuds/JAinsel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Mickey is an accountant, he runs a business when the owner isn't there and he doesn't take shit from anyone (almost).<br/>He is also an android.<br/>He knows Ian since he was a little kid, and when Ian makes him an outrageous offer, Mickey doesn't expect it to turn his world upside down.</p><p>** Part of the Androids series, it is a multichapter on its own</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Androids [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/389575</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>158</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>145</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Volume I, free of charge</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So... Here we are. Many readers asked me for an Android!Mickey story so... After years and years, here it is!<br/>I hope you'll enjoy it</p><p>Unbetad</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>To say that counting for Mickey was as easy as breathing would be a lie. Mickey didn't know how to breathe and he certainly didn't need it. Counting for him was easy because it was easy. They made him that way and for a long time it had been all he was. A counting machine. It took him several upgrades and the affection a person could bestow on an old but reliable car to be recognized as something more. Sometimes Terry's own sons would treat him as their smart brother, asking him for advice they never ended up following, or for clients would mistake him for a paid regular employee, even if for just a second. Luckily for him, Terry had never let him forget who he was and what his only purpose at his establishment was. Not once. Yet it was mainly because of him that he had become aware of how different he was from the others.</p><p>"Mickey, Svetlana's translator stopped working again."</p><p>That platinum hair punk Cole didn't even bother knocking and just opened the door to his office informing him of the situation at hand.</p><p>Mickey rolled his eyes. A movement that took a long time to emulate and master and that humans found comical and endearing, like a circus bear on a ball.</p><p>"Again? Can't Terry pay for something better than that crap?"</p><p>Cole shrugged. He hadn't needed to learn that movement. Sassiness and flirtiness came with his package. "He said <em> Ain't paying for something worth more than her cheap ass </em>."</p><p>Right. </p><p>Svetlana had been an outdated model even before Terry had bought her at the black market. And that was twenty-five years ago. Made in Russia, she actually needed a translator implant for her to be understood. Unfortunately, good translators were expensive, and the one she had would function so and so even on its best days.</p><p>"Ugh, just zip it with the voice emulator. It's creepy."</p><p>"Patrons find it funny. Not that you'd know what funny is, bitch."</p><p>Mickey scoffed. Not that Cole would know it either. Terry's new acquisition was relatively young and all he knew about sarcasm and laughter was gathered by mere observation. Watch and repeat. Cole talked a lot, but he didn't  really understand 'funny'.</p><p>"Whatever. Svetlana's speaking Russian again, Terry hasn't approved the expense for a new translator. What does it have to do with me?”</p><p>"Terry wants you to call <em> the Gallagher boy. The ginger fuck </em>."</p><p>"Oh, just stop!” Mickey groaned at hearing Terry-like voice.</p><p>Cole laughed and left the room. Okay. Maybe he did understand funny, he was just a little shit.</p><p>Mickey couldn't understand for the life of him why he had to call Gallagher. He was supposed to be the accountant and yet sometimes he felt like Terry's glorified assistant, advisor and nanny.</p><p>Yet grumbling was of no use when no one else but him was present in the room.</p><p>He called.</p><p>After just one ring, a woman's voice responded.</p><p>"Gallagher Robotics inc. Enhancements and repairs for androids. This is Debbie speaking, how may I help you?”</p><p>It was truly baffling how a firm that specialized in androids had a human being for a receptionist. But Mickey knew the Gallagher family. It consisted of a bunch of siblings who had all chipped in in a way or another for the flourishing of the company. If he wasn't wrong - and he wasn't, his memory was perfect - Debbie was the youngest sister.</p><p>"Mickey here. Get me your stupid brother."</p><p>He heard her chuckle. Even though there was more than a brother working there, Mickey would call to enquire after only one of them. "Sure thing, Mickey."</p><p>Mickey had to wait a couple seconds listening to an upbeat song, when Ian Gallagher  took the call.</p><p>"Hey, Mick!” Ian greeted with his stupid cheerful voice. "I thought I gave you my personal number, you don't need to go through Debs everytime."</p><p>"You did. I don't care," Mickey replied drily, obtaining a groan from Ian. "It's a work related call, I used your work number."</p><p>"So when are you going to call me for a non work related call on my personal number?”</p><p>"Never."</p><p>He could practically imagine Ian's pouty expression, he'd display it on his face everytime Mickey would shoot down all his efforts at being friendly.</p><p>"Oh, Mickey…" Ian sighed loudly. "So, what can I do you for?”</p><p>"Svetlana's translator doesn't work. Again. I thought you fixed it last time."</p><p>"I fixed what I could. That thing is older than I am, it should be replaced."</p><p>"Then you give it to us for free."</p><p>Ian chuckled. "Good try, but even your immense charm can't get you a translator for free. I'll see if I can find an old or used one here, it would be always better than the archeological piece she has now."</p><p>"Alright, make it quick," Mickey said.</p><p>"Hey I'm trying to do you a favor here!”</p><p>"We close at two, you better come before then or nobody's opening the door for you."</p><p>Mickey closed the call before Ian could reply. Goodbyes were useless.</p><p>He finished inputting the final numbers in and he was done for the night. Everything was accounted for and the money laundering had been laundered. It didn't really take much for him to do it. He had been created to be an accountant, an expensive computer. He had been the only android Terry had actually splurged some money on, and not only when he had first bought him, but also thanks to numerous upgrades and enhancements. He had had to. A computer is only efficient as long as the numbers it needs to process are clear. And <em> legal </em>. Terry needed a computer that could be flexible, creative. He basically needed something that could think like a shrewd human while being able to process data like a computer. Mickey had been his bet and he hadn't disappointed yet.</p><p>Being able to do his job in such little time, it was no wonder Terry would also use him as a secretary and it was of common knowledge that Mickey would run things at the establishment when Terry wasn't around. Also when he was around. The man had other things to do than caring for his own androids. Him being around for Svetlana's little mishap had been a mere coincidence. If he could, he'd spend all his time drinking and shooting his firearms. And he did.</p><p>Mickey left his office and was greeted by the smell of sweat and sex, which he decided to simply turn off, like he could do with any other of his senses. Not for the first time he thought that smelling was something he could totally do without. Right in that moment, he could also do without the hearing. He had never been too fond of moans and screams and loud music.</p><p>Unlucky for him, working at a nightclub kind of forced him to bear with it and he'd just focus on his duties.</p><p>Terry was gone and all the sex androids but Svetlana's were accounted for, either dancing and giggling or entertaining their customers. Mickey found Cole who was just coming out of one of the little rooms where they would service their clients, his golden eyes shining brightly in the dim light of the narrow aisle.</p><p>"Move, bitch. Mama needs to fix her make-up. The pig in there was nasty!” the blond motioned his hands to gesture towards the bathroom.</p><p>"Where Svetlana?” Mickey asked.</p><p>"In the back," Cole replied. "Poor girl, she's not gonna get her orgasms tonight."</p><p>Orgasms. As If Mickey knew what they were. Well, he knew what they were, technically speaking. But apart from that, Mickey was completely in the dark. He hadn't been created for sex.</p><p>"The fuck do I care?"</p><p>Cole grinned. His already ridiculously high cheekbones rising even higher. "You should. Orgasms are good for your skin, that's why mine is flawless."</p><p>"Your skin - and mine- are flawless because they are synthetic, you dumb fuck," Mickey said. </p><p>Cole did not look impressed. He was a sex android through and through. Fucking was what he was born to do and he enjoyed it.  He was new enough even though his model was cheap, and as any new generation android, he was head over heels for any customer of his, eager to satisfy them in any possible way. Mickey found it horrifying.</p><p>"Whatever," Cole said, nonplussed. With a swift moment he moved past him and went to the bathroom. Mickey didn't need to know what the fucker needed to wash after his performance.</p><p>He sighed and went to the bar to wait for Ian. He had nothing left to do for the night and he might as well catch up with the barman slash Terry's youngest son.</p><p>"Hey, Mickey. Done for the night?" Iggy asked. He was pouring the gin Tanqueray in a tall glass. </p><p>"Not quite. I'm waiting for Gallagher for Svetlana's problem." There was no customer at the bar, so Mickey could speak freely. The sandy hair man nodded. </p><p>"You asked for Ian, right. Pops gonna get pissed if the Half one comes."</p><p>"Of course I asked for Ian, who do you take me for," Mickey said and propped himself up on one of the barstools.</p><p>Iggy chuckled. He finished the garnishing of the drink with a lemon peel to enhance the citrus taste of the gin tonic. "I know. You're the best. And, since you're the best, would you mind bringing this to Mr Lishman?"</p><p>Mickey arched one eyebrow. He had learnt over the years how much a simple eyebrow raising could convey many words. In that particular case, the unspoken words were "The fuck do you take me for. I ain't a fucking waiter and we all know Lewd Lloyd likes to grope." </p><p>Iggy responded with a grin. ”Hopefully he'll close the tab for tonight and leave. Please Mick, do it for your favourite person in the whole world. I'm tired."</p><p>Truth was, Mickey actually liked Iggy. Iggy had always treated him well and he had never been demeaning or abusive towards him or any other android. He was a good guy who had the bad luck of having been born in the Milkovich household.</p><p>"You're not," Mickey said, but without bite. He sighed. "Alright shithead, but you better hope he doesn't do anything stupid or I'mma kicking his ass."</p><p>"I'll be there with you if that happens." Iggy nodded and placed the drink on a tray. "Thank you, bro."</p><p>Mickey directed himself towards the lounge. </p><p>He was aware of how he looked. He was dressed too toned down for being a Sex A, but his unnatural bright blue eyes were unmistakable. Plus he was aware he was not bad looking, living and working at a nightclub kind of taught him so. Dark hair, pale skin; he wasn't tall but he was toned and his facial features were pleasant enough for people to dare touching his ass. Which apparently was his 'strong suit', as they would say. </p><p>No matter what, Mickey was untouchable, and if customers started to become too handsy, he was allowed to beat them up. Within reasons.</p><p>He found Lewd Lloyd at one of the more secluded booths, ogling without shame at an employee dancing on the pole. He had the nerve to smile lasciviously at Mickey when he noticed him.</p><p>"You, serving me. The night has just become sweeter," the old fucker said.</p><p>"A real pleasure Mr Lishman," Mickey replied, trying to hold his sarcasm in. Sarcasm, irony and whatnot were features Terry hadn't meant to give him with the enhancements, but there they were anyway. Born out of evolution and years of dealing with the patrons.</p><p>The man had the audacity of caressing his hand when Mickey offered him the gin tonic. "Please, Mickey. I told you to call me Ned."</p><p>"I'm not one of the twinks here. I'm not going to call you Ned." Or 'daddy', as he knew Lewd Lloyd wanted to be called sometimes. Twinks liked to gossip.</p><p>"You're such a downer, my dear Mickey," Lishman said, pouting. He looked hideous. "But it's alright, next time."</p><p>Mickey didn't even bother to reply.</p><p>"This is the last drink. Close the tab and go home to your wife and kids." </p><p>He didn't wait for a reply and went back to the bar.</p><p>It seemed his wait had ended, because Ian Gallagher was already there with a smile on his face that went up to his eyes. Mickey didn't know why he always felt the urge to punch him in the mug.</p><p>"Hey," the redhead greeted him.</p><p>"Cheerful as always I see," Mickey said. He looked away from that ball of happiness to hand the tray back to Iggy.</p><p>"Only when I see you," Ian replied, earning a chuckle from the barman. Ian grinned. "Also when I see you, Iggy. The cutest Milkovich I have ever seen."</p><p>Iggy flipped him. The other man laughed. </p><p>"Want to see Svetlana? You know, the reason why you're here?" Mickey interrupted. He didn't like that light banter between the two. He found it stupid and, frankly, without purpose.</p><p>Both guys didn't seem offended by Mickey's rudeness. Ian refocused his attention on him and smiled. "Of course. Lead the way."</p><p>Mickey brought him to the back of the establishment, where Svetlana had been sitting for a few hours. She had her eyes closed, sign that she had shut herself down and she was currently recharging. Only her and a couple other employees still had to charge themselves with a plug-in. She was that old.</p><p>"Svetlana? Ian's here," Mickey said, prompting the ginoid to wake up.</p><p>"наконец!” she said. Having known her for a long time, it could probably mean either 'it was time' or 'fuck off'. One could never truly know with her.</p><p>"Yeah. Ian is going to fix you up," he said, closing the door behind him. Ian was waving at her and said "herпривет", which even Mickey knew meant 'hello' by now. She raised her middle finger. That gesture had a universal meaning.</p><p>"Ну, тогда давай уже, мне пора вернуться к работе." Svetlana stood up. She was several inches taller than Mickey, that fucking synthetic giraffe. She also had a very bad attitude, maybe in Russia they liked their androids like that. Truth was, she had many regulars who would only come to the brothel for her, those poor fuckers.</p><p>Ian took a small object from his doctor's bag. </p><p>"Look what I found, Lana." He held it in front of her. By the looks of it it was another translator. Slightly chipped but otherwise in good condition. "It's not brand new. Well, maybe it's not even relatively new. And it's used… but! It's better than the one you have, of that I'm pretty sure. Can I see yours?”</p><p>He tapped on the left side of his head to make her understand and she clicked on her left temple, rotating and extracting her implant. It was bigger than the one Ian had, but it had the same brand on it.</p><p>"Just like I remembered," Ian said, inspecting the older model. "We should be good. Let's try it."</p><p>Mickey stopped him by grabbing him by the arm. He needed a confirmation first. "Just wait a second. We need to be clear here.  We're paying you the amount we would have if you had fixed the old one, not a cent more."</p><p>Ian nodded, his eyes lowered to Mickey's hand on him. "Believe me. The price for this is way less than fixing that crap. It would take a miracle to make it work again since it's burned. I'll charge you the usual fee."</p><p>Satisfied, Mickey lifted his hand. "Good, just wanted to make sure."</p><p>It didn't take much for Ian to put the 'new' implant into place. The thing just clicked in its place. It took more time to fill the gap left by the bigger implant with a synthetic foam that hardened in a matter of a couple minutes. Then Ian promptly smoothed it down to make it indistinguishable on her skin. It looked way better than the implant sticking out of her temple all the time. </p><p>"Good job, doctor," Mickey said.</p><p>Svetlana nodded after a few seconds. "Yes. Good job orange boy."</p><p>Her voice sounded strange and unfamiliar, but at least she was comprehensible once again.</p><p>"Hey, your accent is gone!” Ian exclaimed. As if he didn't know that she had never had an accent but simply her previous implant made her voice sound slow and husky.</p><p>"You go now. I go back to work," she responded. </p><p>"You better hurry up then, we close in less than an hour," Mickey informed. She nodded and, without so much as a thank you, she left the room. Mickey followed her suit. </p><p>Ian emerged from the room a few minutes later and found Mickey at the bar.</p><p>"Hey done already? You tech wiz," Iggy said. "Whiskey as usual?”</p><p>"Sure, thanks." Ian nodded. "But the tech wiz is actually my brother."</p><p>Iggy scoffed. "That might be, but ever since he charged us triple what you usually do, pops made it clear that he's not welcome here anymore. Pesh… how do you say, Mick? That ancient latin shit you taught me."</p><p>"It looks like I didn't teach you enough. Persona non grata," Mickey supplied. Sometimes it was hard to be the most knowledgeable person in the room. Iggy was a big hearted person, but he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. Ian, on the other hand, was more than just a beautiful, freckled face. He would always play down his role at the company but he was a co-founder and really the heart that kept it together.</p><p>"That's it. Persona non grata," Iggy repeated with a horrible pronunciation. "So yeah, you are our tech wiz."</p><p>"Well, thank you," Ian said, raising the glass Iggy had just poured with middle shelf whiskey. "Sorry about my brother. He's not good at sales, he doesn't know what to charge customers to keep them happy."</p><p>Ian had stolen a glance at Mickey while talking. Mickey raised his brow, not understanding the slightly guilty expression Ian had sported.</p><p>"And you do. You make pops happy, everybody is happy," Iggy convened. "Now excuse me, I'm going to go force Lewd Lloyd to close the fucking tab."</p><p>With a sigh, Iggy left them to get a half drunk always horny old fuck to get lost. He knew by experience how hard it could be. </p><p>Mickey followed Iggy with his eyes. Lloyd had an employee sitting on his thigh while he was conversing with Iggy. The android looked like he was enjoying being groped by the old geezer. Sex androids were really strange fuckers.</p><p>"What are you thinking?” he heard Ian asking behind him. Mickey turned back, facing the redhead.</p><p>"None of your business."</p><p>"Sex androids really like everyone," Ian commented, causing Mickey to arch both his eyebrows because, damn, that's what he was thinking. "But while that feature was implemented in them to gratify the humans so nothing could burst their bubble of illusion, at the same time it helped the Sex As to enjoy their work and have a happy life."</p><p>"Thank you for the lesson in androids history I already knew and didn't care about," Mickey said. Ian chuckled.  The android noticed the laugh was forced.</p><p>"You're welcomed, but…" Ian stretched his arm behind the counter and grabbed the bottle of whiskey that was still there. He poured himself another glass. "I don't know. It just had me thinking. Have you ever wondered what it's like?”</p><p>"What is?”</p><p>Ian gulped the glass down. There was no doubt. Ian was nervous, but Mickey couldn't understand why and that prompted him to wait for Ian to explain himself.</p><p>"Sex."</p><p>That was it? </p><p>"I know sex," Mickey said. He had seen plenty of it. More than he would've liked to. He lived in a fucking brothel, he knew more about sex than the average human and certainly more than any other android not built for sex purposes. </p><p>"Sure. But do you <em> know </em> sex?” Ian asked again, emphasizing the word 'know'. "I mean it. You never had sex, you never had an orgasm, you only know what you've heard and saw."</p><p>And there it was. A smug expression on that freckled face. It always had the effect of pissing Mickey off.</p><p>"So what." Mickey nodded towards the sex android next to Lishman. "Dolls only know fucking and they have plenty of orgasms. I wouldn't trade places with them for the world."</p><p>"Totally understand," Ian convened. "But, you know, don't you think that you'd be more complete if you could have the ability to feel pleasure? I know you're already awesome but wouldn't you like to have something more?”</p><p>Mickey could now recognize the tone of voice the redhead was taking. It was the sales pitch one that Ian would always use when he wanted to sell them something they did not ask for. </p><p>"Okay. I'll save you some time and tell you: whatever you are trying to sell me, you should ask Terry first. And he'll probably tell you to fuck off. You know he doesn't like extras he doesn't specifically request."</p><p>The redhead appeared undeterred. He leaned him and whispered</p><p>"Even if this is only for you?”</p><p>Mickey stilled for a second. Not so much for the words, but rather for the way Ian had said them. So close to his ear, so much so that he felt his breath on his skin. Mickey felt a shiver, which was weird, he wasn't cold. </p><p>"Especially if only for me," Mickey said.</p><p>"Mickey…" Ian said, still so close to him. Mickey leaned back a little. "I think it's not fair that you're the only android in this place that doesn't have fun. Nowadays more and more droids not made for sex can still enjoy it. It's only an enhancement, not too dissimilar to the ones you already had. You would basically be able to feel sexual desire, be hard and have an orgasm. Plus it comes with a major sensorial upgrade in your case, since Terry never bothered with that."</p><p>Mickey wanted to make him stop talking. Why would Ian even try to pitch it to him? Mickey had never really desired to have sex, but he couldn't say he wasn't curious about it. Yet, being able to have an orgasm wasn't exactly something that Terry was dying for Mickey to have. It was stupid of Ian to offer him something he couldn't have. </p><p>"It doesn't have anything to do with accounting or running a business, you can ask Terry but we already know the answer," Mickey tried to feign disinterest. </p><p>"That's why I am asking you."</p><p>Mickey would've laughed in his face, but Ian seemed serious. </p><p>"You're asking me," he repeated. </p><p>Ian nodded. "Yeah."</p><p>"You are aware that Terry's the one who pays for his androids, right?”</p><p>"He won't need to know if it's free of charges."</p><p>This time it was Mickey's turn to laugh. "There's no fucking way that that kind of enhancement is free."</p><p>Ian shrugged. Even if he was keeping the expression on his face neutral, Mickey could detect Ian's heartbeat going at a faster rate than usual. He was lying.</p><p>"You're lying," Mickey said. </p><p>Ian seemed to think about whether to tell him the truth or not. "Alright," he said. "Yes, it's not free. Usually. But I got one as a tester and I thought that I could ask you to try it."</p><p>Mickey didn't say anything, so Ian continued.</p><p>"Terry doesn't need to know, we could just meet once outside and-"</p><p>"No," Mickey said. Ian didn't even seem to hear him and continued.</p><p>"It's not quick but it can be done in just one session-"</p><p>"I said no!" Mickey half shouted half whispered. He had seen Iggy coming back with a drunk Lishman leaning on his shoulder. He wouldn't have Iggy listening to Ian's nonsense. He himself didn't want to listen to that.</p><p>Going behind Terry's back. Meeting with Ian. Having a useless enhancement installed. </p><p>For what, anyway.</p><p>Mickey was an accountant. He ran a business. He had spent thirty years of taking shit in order to be treated differently than the usual android. He had found a place.</p><p>What was Ian even suggesting?</p><p>Before Ian could say something more, Iggy called him.</p><p>"Hey Ian! C'mon, help me here!”</p><p>Ian looked unsure about what to do. He opened his mouth to say something to Mickey but the android took that as a hint to leave the room. </p><p>He didn't look back and closed the door of his office without looking back.</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Slurs: Dolly for sex androids<br/>Half for humans with many implants</p><p>Androids and ginoids are seen as he or she like pets are. It's not uncommon to hear a human call them 'it'</p><p>Svetlana said (I think)<br/>Finally<br/>Well then hurry up I have to go back to work</p><p>I used "like a circus bear on a ball" as a similitude<br/>I frankly hate circuses with animals. I just wanted you to know that idk</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The upgrade</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>It's time for the enhancement. It is structured in 3 phases</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>What the fuck.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What the fucking fuck.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Why would Ian put on the table something like that? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey would never lose his calm. It was something that Mickey never did. He was a highly rational being and nothing in life could faze him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Not even Iggy's continuous wrong choice in women, which he had been able to give a simple solution when he had found the common factor amongst all the ladies: he liked them pretty, superficial, and with a tendency to self sabotage. It took the first three girlfriends/ fuck buddies to establish that Iggy was, in a word, fucked. At least for the foreseeable future.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But this… this was unexpected. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Nothing that Ian had ever said to him before would ever hint to what he had said two nights prior. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sure, Ian had very liberal ideas when it came to androids. He had never said it out loud to not piss Terry off, but Mickey had noticed the way Ian's nostrils would flare when Terry would talk shit about his own employees and the dicks in the government opposition who defended android's rights. Ian would clench his fists during the whole conversation, clearly not at ease. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was also true that Ian had never had a problem giving discounts on merchandise and repairments when needed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>However, for Ian to propose him an upgrade, free of charge, so he could have sex and get off on it?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That was not possible.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey had known Ian forever. Ever since he was a scrawny little kid coming to get his drunk of a father at the nightclub.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hell, Mickey vividly remembered little Ian, eight year old, a mop of red hair and a face full of freckles, so much darker than the faded ones he still sported as an adult. He had a cute hole where the two upper incisor teeth still hadn't come out. Not that he would've known what cute was back then. His sense of objective beauty and ugliness had become more distinct in the years to come.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey opened one of the drawers of his desk, taking a framed picture out. He had never hung it on the wall because it was a stupid drawing, legit butt ugly, done by a kid without an ounce of artistic talent. People would've laughed at it, at him, if they've ever seen it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Plus it was his. And it was not something he could say for many things. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was a drawing of what was supposed to be Mickey, Ian and Frank Gallagher. The little kid had drawn with whatever he could find at the brothel, so Mickey's hair was a black crust from liquid eyeliner, and Ian's was cherry red from lipstick. Mickey was huge in comparison with Ian, who was holding his hand. Ian had grown more and more upset because he hadn't been able to find the right shade of blue for Mickey's eyes, resolving to smudge his face with a line of blue glitter that made it look like he had death rays shooting from his eyes. Ian had not experienced the same artistic dilemma while drawing his dad, a small figure in the corner stabbed to death with a knife and lying in a pool of his own blood on the floor. When confronted about it, Ian had revealed it was clearly his father passed out drunk, a bottle on his belly, and beer all over him. He had had to make do using the cherry red lipstick to color the beer, because there was no yellow in the make-up bag they had given him. But a Gallagher always managed, he had said proudly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian had been the sweetest kid Mickey had known. Not that many kids had ever visited the establishment, usually all the patrons except for Frank had the decency to keep the nightclub separate from their private lives.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Well, there had been Lip, but that  weirdo had always looked at him as if he wanted to section him to discover how he worked. It took Mickey by no surprise when he had become a robot engineer. Fucking psycho.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But Ian…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That boy had, strangely enough, always been a constant in Mickey's life. First because of Frank, then Ian had started to come on his own volition. He had had his first beer at the establishment, his first illegal drug, he also had had his first and apparently only fuck with an android. Mickey remembered Ian coming out of the room, sweaty and red-faced. He had stared at Mickey for a few seconds and then had stormed out of the club. Mickey remembered other things too: Ian crying for a whole night pissing off customers with his sobs when his mother had committed suicide. Or when his brother had had the accident and Mickey had to comfort Ian with positive survival percentages. He had tweaked them a little to not upset Ian, but then Lip had come out of the ER and his lies had gone undetected.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He had watched Ian grow into a good man, perhaps a bit - a lot - annoying and petulant, but good nonetheless. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey had helped him prepare for his exams when he had decided to follow his brother into robotics and Ian had operated on him several times already, the first times with Terry present.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A cute child, a sensible boy, a good man.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey had thought he knew him as his numbers and yet Ian had still managed to surprise him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Was he serious with that offer?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Did he really have that upgrade for Mickey? Why?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was an extra, unnecessary enhancement.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian had  said it was a tester but he had also been lying. Was it a gift? But even so it was stupid, Mickey was an accountant, what was the point of having sex?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Not knowing made him nervous. His brain was racing fast but he wasn't coming up with anything.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey put the drawing back in the drawer and went to Terry's empty office. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>From the cameras Mickey could watch the Sex As have at it with the customers. He watched one of the male employees raptured in ecstasy as his client was pounding into him; he was on all four and moaning. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Why? It didn't look comfortable, nor pleasurable. So why did the android and the man seem so into it? Did it really only take an upgrade to understand?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Just an upgrade.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For free.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe it wasn't even as expensive as Mickey thought. Maybe Ian just wanted to test it on a non sex android.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It would've been easy to check the real cost for such enhancement, yet Mickey decided to spend his free time watching the cameras, trying to get the appeal of sex, but miserably failing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It took a week for Ian to visit the nightclub again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey saw him first on one of the cameras, saying something to Svetlana. They exchanged a few words and then they moved to the back. Ian was probably going to do a check-up on her for the translator. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He decided to take a look himself as there were no cameras there. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He found Svetlana talking to Ian and the redhead nodding at her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It's all good," he said. Svetlana didn't wait for him to dismiss her and left the room. She didn't even bother to acknowledge Mickey's presence, which instead Ian noticed and smiled at him, just like always. "Hey, Mick. I was just checking on Lana's response time."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey was taken aback. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What was with that normal, suit for everyday kind smile? As if Mickey hadn't been thinking about Ian's words for a week.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yet, he wouldn't let surprise show on his face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Okay." He shrugged. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Okay," Ian repeated. He motioned to get out, but Mickey grabbed him by the arm. It so appeared the android would have to be the one to address the issue.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You were serious?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian stopped in his tracks. He seemed surprised. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Seemed</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"About what?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mother.Fucker.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"About your fucking offer, of course."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian scratched his jaw, feigning confusion.. "Sorry, I don't...  My offer…?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oh, for fuck's sake!</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Quit with the bullshit." Mickey blurted out. "I know you remember. You look away when you talk, you're feeling itchy and your tone of voice is an octave higher than usual. You're fucking lying. So now that we've established that you suck, can you give me a straight answer?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This time he had really taken Ian by surprise, judging by his mouth wide open. To think Ian was the one who had enhanced him with a lie detector upgrade.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey arched his eyebrow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian sighed, defeated.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Man! I was just joking… Yes, I was serious. Of course I was," Ian said. "I thought you didn't want to talk about it."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That had been true, but curiosity killed the cat, and androids, apparently.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He had never thought about the possibility of experiencing his sexuality. Even though he lived in a brothel, he had never bothered with these hearty things, there was no drive to try them out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Until Ian had offered something he had never wanted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So now he did.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I had time to think about it," Mickey said. "And it could be interesting. Free of charge."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian nodded eagerly. "Yes, of course."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It… it doesn't mean I'm not fine with the way things are." He wanted to make it clear. "I'm not going to become a doll."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian scoffed. "Mickey, you couldn't be a doll if you tried."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yeah, but they are like sex crazed, I don't want to be like that."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Their brains are wired like that. Like yours is made for numbers," Ian said. Then he grinned. "Like mine is made for dumb jokes, or at least that's what my brother says."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He'd be right for once," Mickey convened. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He's wired to be an asshole," Ian replied. "Anyway. You'll be fine, but your senses will be amplified. It will have an effect on the brain, but you won't become a sex android, no."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Mh. I hope for you that's true. I have another question though," Mickey said. He looked Ian straight in the eyes. "Why me."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He saw Ian swallow his saliva. Ian's eyes didn't tear his eyes off Mickey, but it was clear he wished to avert his gaze.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Because… Because the use of this technology for non sex androids is still relatively new. You won't be born with it, you'll get it at a later stage and it's not your primary use. It actually doesn't have a </span>
  <em>
    <span>use</span>
  </em>
  <span>, except your own. You'd be not exactly a pioneer but close. And I'm sure you'd have no trouble, because you're the strongest person I know."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian had started his argument rather weakly, but he had grown more and more confident by its end. Mickey had been focused on detecting a lie, until Ian had said it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Person</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey was technically and officially not a person. Yet Ian was the only one he knew who would call androids people and treat them accordingly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>See? A good man.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Okay. Let's do it," Mickey said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Are you sure? Because once I do the upgrade there's no-"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I said let's do it. I wanna do it."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey's abrupt interruption had the effect of shushing Ian for a few seconds. He nodded.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Alright," he said. "Tomorrow night. I'll come pick you up after closing hours, the lab is too far from here to walk. Text me on my phone in case you incur into problems." Problems like Terry remaining until late, if he had to guess. That could be a problem.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You don't want people to know," Mickey observed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You don't want that either." Ian shrugged. "Or maybe I just want you to use my personal number for once."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That fucking shit eating grin. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey nodded. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> "See you tomorrow then."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The ride was silent. Ian was noticeably nervous and Mickey wasn't going to try to start a conversation. It was not his job being amicable.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They arrived at the Gallagher Laboratories at around 3 am and Mickey was surprised by the transformation the place had gone under in the two years he hadn't been visiting. They had added another upper floor to the main building and there was a smaller building close by. The place was starting to look like a proper technological company, not the dumpster it had used to be. They even had a gatehouse with a night guard inside who greeted Ian with a "Mr Gallagher." when they passed by.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You're becoming fancy," Mickey said, once they passed the gate. It seemed he had started a conversation this time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian chuckled. "Yes. It seems so.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then he was silent again. Mickey wasn't going to repeat his efforts a second time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian parked at his assigned space and soon they were inside the building. They passed the hall and Ian directed them to the laboratories. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Sorry, we'll have to go through a bunch of shells first," Ian apologized. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey scoffed. It was ridiculous that Ian was concerned about letting Mickey see android external parts.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"We're not as sensible as you humans. Skins or heads are simply replaceable parts. I'm sure no android that came here has ever swoon over seeing a detached leg."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I always prefer to let them know beforehand. I wouldn't like to enter a room with human body parts hanging from the ceiling," Ian said, shivering dramatically.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Pussy."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The redhead laughed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As he had warned, they went through an empty assembly aisle. If Mickey had been human he would've been spooked by heads without eyes or slivers of different skin colors. But he wasn't and he didn't. He was more bothered than horrified by that display. Every part of an android was replaceable, as he had said. Even if nowadays they tended to make androids different in aspect from one to another, no android was truly unique. They were expendable.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Here," Ian said, pointing with his hand towards one of the doors on the right. Mickey followed him inside.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was a small space, not bigger than a dentist room. The walls and all the equipment were of several shades of white, giving the impression of a sterile environment. Not that germs could do anything to Mickey. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was a gynecological kind examination table at the center and Ian motioned for Mickey to go sit on it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm not having a baby," the android said. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yeah, no.. but we'll need it for the procedure." Ian wasn't looking directly at Mickey. He wasn't lying but he was definitely embarrassed. "I mean, it's not like the, uhm, whole operation will be below the belt, but…"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It's fine," simply said Mickey. He wasn't a prude. There was no reason to be one when you were made of synthetic material. "Just explain what is going to happen, will ya?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The redhead nodded, visibly comforted by Mickey's calmness.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Sure. Uhm. It consists of three phases. One is for the chip that will go into your brain. It will register your sensations and provide an adequate response. Phase two is the longest. I will need to insert needles into various parts of your skin to activate the pleasure and pain system-"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I can already feel pain," Mickey said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yes. Well, not exactly. You have basic responses to basic stimuli. Like, you feel cold, you shiver but you don't need to put a warmer jacket on. And you feel pain only to alert you that there's a damage to your body that needs technical attention. This upgrade will not only make you able to feel and have sex but also to experience sensations you've never tried before and not all of them are going to be nice."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It seems this upgrade will make me feel like shit," Mickey commented.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It will make you feel more human," Ian supplied instead.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>More human. This upgrade was different from the others on so many levels. It wasn't to make him better, more useful. It was the opposite of it. It was thrilling. And scary. Not that Mickey would ever admit that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"The third phase?" He asked, not wanting to go deeper into the conversation. Ian seemed to accept it even if he went a deeper shade of red because of the next topic.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Third phase is to make you mechanically able to, uhm, get it up?" He scratched his scalp, an awkward smile on his face. "Main reason for the examination table. I will need to make you properly able to have sex."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Okay," Mickey said. As strange as it might be, he was more worried about the second phase. He wondered about the sex androids. "Are Sex As more human? Than me, I mean."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian seemed to think about it and shook his head. "They look the part, but no. Not really. I mean, they are very human, but in only one aspect. In a way that is more a caricature than anything. They have however the potential to grow and understand more the human psyche than other kinds of android."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Like me."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"With your current status? Yes. Maybe." Ian sighed. "To tell you the truth it's difficult to say who and what is more human. Who can grow into it and who cannot. There are many interpretations. So many people have their own thoughts about it and really who knows who's right. There's a new theory every day…" </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey was observing Ian. He had noticed the redhead's growing distress and, even if it was kind of funny to see him all flustered, he decided to put a stop to his ramblings. Plus Mickey was aware they were not exactly ramblings and he wasn't going to focus on them. Not that night. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"That's fine. I was just pulling your leg," Mickey said. He was lying but Ian couldn't see that. "Let's do this. It's past three in the morning."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian's expression was one of pure relief from being saved from such a tricky subject. "Yeah?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yeah. Do I have to be shut down?" he asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Only for the first phase. I can't just lift the skin on your skull, I need to reach your brain," Ian explained. "For the other two phases is up to you. Do you want me to wake you up?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey disliked being put to sleep. Even if he trusted Ian to do his job, he would have preferred to observe. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"As long as you promise not to talk the entire time," Mickey said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian chuckled. "You know I can't promise that."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The redhead sat down next to him and put his gloves on. "I will run diagnostics on your brain before and after the insertion of the chip. It won't take more than twenty minutes."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey didn't answer but lifted his chin up. "I'll do it myself," he said before clicking a precise spot under it, effectively shutting himself down.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian woke him up twenty-five minutes and thirty-six seconds later. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Took your time, I see," Mickey said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian flipped him the bird, not raising his gaze from the screen he was reading from, probably showing the diagnostics. "Interesting," he murmured.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What is?” Mickey got up to go stand behind Ian. He didn't know what those numbers and graphs meant, but they were </span>
  <em>
    <span>his</span>
  </em>
  <span> numbers and graphs. He wanted to look. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Well, I thought I would've had to create a pleasure center, but looking at your 'before' it appears it was already there. More or less." Ian pointed to one of the graphs. "It seems you kind of already had grown a response to sensorial stimuli. As if you could feel that something is good for you, but responded with the basic reactions you know, like shivers for example. Does it make sense?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Not really," Mickey replied. But it did make sense, a little.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Android brains are so fascinating…" Ian commented, in reverie. Mickey had to snap his fingers in front of him to gather his attention. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Phase two?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian seemed to gather his bearings  and nodded. "Yes. Please, I'll need you to get undressed. You can leave your underwear on for now."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian didn't seem awkward now as he had been before. He was detached as a doctor would be to his patient. Professional. Mickey couldn't place if he was bothered by that or not. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He undressed right to his underwear and sat on the chair again. Ian soon leaned over him and started pressing the tip of a black marker on different points on his skin. From head to toe. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Then I'll insert the needle in each of them," Ian said. "I told you this was the longest part."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Also most boring."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"We could talk, if you want," Ian offered. "How did your day go?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Shitty as always," Mickey replied, curtly. But the silence that descended on them was oppressing, so he continued. "Iggy ordered supplies for the bar that we didn't need without telling me. Because, I quote 'my friend made me a sweet deal'. Of course his fucking friend scammed him real good and he delivered us basically crap."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Iggy never fails to crack me up," Ian commented. He had switched from marker to needle, pressing into his skin to reach his sensors. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Because you don't have to deal with his stupid shit everyday. He came to me begging to not tell his father about it. I told him I would shut up as long as he comes with the money he used."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You know he'll never do that."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yeah… but at least he'll avoid squandering more money for some time."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian pressed the needle into another sensor. "You really believe that?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Iggy's fear of Terry is real, so who knows." He did. Iggy would've screwed up again and he would've solved the matter for him. As per usual.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian extracted the needle from his chest, patting on the skin right after, as a doctor would do with his human patient after using the syringe of them. Mickey felt a shiver. It wasn't cold.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Today Liam asked if he could work here as an intern. You know, as an extracurricular. I told him I'll have to think about it. He's only fifteen, he can intern when he's in college since he wants to do robotics as well. He insisted he'll be good even scrubbing the floors, but we already have Sparky."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Lip's first working robot," Mickey supplied. From Ian's tales, Sparky was a weird mix between a Roomba and a tarantula.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yep. I swear he loves it more than his own son. Now open your mouth."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey did and Ian pressed the needle into his tongue.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Alright! These were the main sensors. Once you'll get them working they will teach the others how to feel so the totality of your body will be sensitive." Ian out the needle down. "Now please take your boxers off."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey did as he was asked. Ian's eyes flickered to his groins.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What? You've never seen an android's penis? I think I saw a couple hanging in the lab," Mickey said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"W-what?" Ian sputtered. "No, of course I've seen an android's penis. In fact I've seen many of them. Every kind of penis. Android, human, animal… Horses are fucking scary, man."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey raised one eyebrow. "You done?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian breathed out. "Yes. Sorry. It's just… I always forget that androids are not shy about their intimate body parts. And I'm usually more professional."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You're not right now?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It's… I guess it's different with someone I know since I was a kid," Ian said. "And all your other enhancements were not even close to your groins. Anyway. Let's get back to work."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian leaned over. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Well, down. His face was a few inches from his dick now and Mickey simply let him do his job. He didn't have a big fascination with his penis, so he just started at the ceiling listening to Ian talking about his brother some more.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You know, I'm happy that Liam wants to be in the family business. He seems so eager to learn. He's very intelligent, awesome grades and everything."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He also talked about his sister Fiona and her second husband and about Carl who, after being kicked out of the police academy for possession of drugs, was now working for a construction company.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He loves the demolition phase," he said, amused.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"The best part."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He heard a click and then the squishing sound of his synthetic skin being reattached. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Okay, we're done here," Ian said, leaning back against his chair. "Just a few indications. Shut yourself down when you're home. You need to reboot the system in order for it to work. I'll come check with you tomorrow, alright? In the meantime, please try to feel stuff.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Like what?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian shrugged. "Like… try to touch things. A peach, a popsicle. You should try them on your tongue too, even if you don't eat. Try to look around, see if there's something you like."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You mean that I want to fuck?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian coughed, clearly unprepared by the question.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Well… no." He managed to say, his voice a little raspy now.  "Not necessarily. Things that you've always seen could appear pleasant to you tomorrow. Or unpleasant."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey thought about it. "So, it is entirely possible that tomorrow I will dislike you even more."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian's expression could have not been sadder if he had kicked a puppy. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I said possible," Mickey helpfully offered. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'll have you know my face is very pleasant. To many," Ian informed, trying to sound cocky and miserably failing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm sure it is," the android said. He got up. "So we done here?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian nodded. "Yes. Let's get you home."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Half an hour later, Mickey was in his office.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He shut down and slept the dreamless sleep of the androids.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Notes:<br/>People say that the future of AI is centralized with basically robots connected to a internet. So all information is shared at the same time amongst all of them.<br/>In this story and all the others I wrote the androids are single machines, not connected to anything. It feels more human and better suited for romantic relationships?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The Awakening</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Mickey wakes up after his reboot.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Mickey opened his eyes at 11:53 am. The reboot had taken many hours, more than he had expected, but nobody was around the club to notice his absence yet. Iggy and Colin were probably still sleeping and so were the other androids in the back. Mickey had shut himself down in his office, as he would always do when he needed some rest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He went on with his daily checklist and inventory and at 2:05 pm he opened the door for the cleaning gynoid who would spend an exact time of two hours and a half to clean the lounge and the rooms where their employees would entertain their guests. Mickey knew her, more or less. She had a brash sense of humor and would comment with him on the cum stains she'd always find on the couches and carpets. She could maybe distract him from his feeling of disappointment. It didn't look like the upgrade had gone well as he didn't feel any different from before the operation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Except the robot standing in front of him wasn't the usual one, but an older looking gynoid with a motherly expression on her face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Where's Sandy?" Mickey asked instead of a greeting, letting her in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, hello! She doesn't work for us anymore," she replied. "But I am Sheila, very nice to meet you."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She extended her hand to Mickey, who didn't shake it. He had a bad feeling about her words.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What do you mean she doesn't work for your crew anymore?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"She was fired, I believe," she said, lowering her hand. She didn't seem offended by Mickey's lack of politeness.  "I met the young lady only a couple times, I didn't think she was fit to be a proper cleaning robot. Anyhoo, may I ask where the cleaning closet would be?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"There's a mop over there," Mickey motioned behind him. "You can't fire a robot."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She smiled at him, the kind of smile a very patient teacher could show to her ignorant student. "Oh, sweetie. Of course you can't. But you certainly know how a robot can be dismissed, don't you."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She patted him on the shoulder and went to get the mop. Mickey decided to let her do her job and he closed himself in his office. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fuck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Of course he knew what the term "fired" meant for an android. Faulty or obsolete robots would be either reprogrammed or disposed of at the recycling sites, scavenged for usable parts. Mickey had never been so close to Sandy, but they had somehow clicked and it sucked to know about her fate.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His day has just become darker. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He waited for the two and half hours Sheila was supposed to be working and didn't emerge from his office until the gynoid knocked on his door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Knock knock!” she said. "I am done, I'll be back tomorrow, same hour."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey nodded. "Sure, just fuck off."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Again, she didn't flinch at Mickey's poor show of education.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Have a blessed day!” she greeted and she was off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The android groaned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was 4:35 pm and Iggy could arrive anytime now. They opened at six and only recently the guy had started to understand he actually had to be at the club before that time to check on the supplies for the bar, prepare the ingredients needed for the cocktails, and to be ready to welcome any early bird.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey stepped out of his office and sat on one of the barstools, resigning himself to just wait for Iggy. His reboot didn't work, or maybe the whole upgrade had been a giant fiasco. He didn't feel any different, and he had found nothing more pleasing or displeasing than usual. Well, maybe he hadn't liked Sheila, but he doubted it had to be because of the operation. The fault was her fucking smile while delivering pretty bad news.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then, when he was least expecting it, it happened.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The front door opened, and Iggy greeted him. But that wasn't what captured his attention. It was a small thing, something that Mickey had seen several times before but had never had any effect on him. This time, however, the android's eyes followed the refraction of light produced by a crystal bottle cap. How was it possible that the light coming from an opened door could have such an effect on it? That those colors could happen from a stupid transparent prisma?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Fuck."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey touched the prisma where the rainbow seemed to be born from and surprised himself with the notion that there was only one world that could describe what he was seeing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Beautiful.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Mick, a little help here!” Iggy called for him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey turned his head around to look at the guy, annoyed by the intrusion.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Iggy nodded towards a crate full of pineapples and mangoes. He was already carrying one himself, with lemon and oranges. "Don't be a dick, it's heavy!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Iggy walked with some difficulty to the bar, an orange dropped to the floor. "Fuuuuck!” he shouted and dropped the crate on the counter. "I can't take the other crate. I'm done. Wiew!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey sighed "You're such a pussy," he commented and went to get the crate, lifting it up without problems.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Show off."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The android shrugged. "You're sour because you're weak."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He placed the crate next to the other and went back to pick the orange up. It was cool to the touch and he gave it a too strong squeeze and the sweet and citrusy scent of the fruit entered his nostrils. The juice was wetting his hand and, while Iggy wasn't noticing, he opened his mouth and let a few drops land on his tongue.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was good.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even the porosity of the fruit against his hand was pleasing to his senses. Mickey pressed the fruit even more. The pulp was soft and the juice was fresh, even if it was becoming a little sticky. The blood orange color was overwhelming, it was all over his hand, on his arm, his shirt, the floor-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"The fuck, Mick!” Iggy exclaimed. He snapped him back from his reverie and threw him a washcloth. "Clean that shit up before it gets all sticky. The fuck happened? You low on battery?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey flipped him with the clean hand. He decided to not give him any explanation and just clean up the mess. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It seemed that his senses were slowly starting to awaken, afterall. It hadn't happened in a grandiose way, as he had expected, but it was happening anyway. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So he decided to look at Iggy. Like, to really look at him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the past, he had never spent too much thought on him. He was one of Terry's sons and the one he was closest in age with, if one could say that in reference to a human and an android. They had a good relationship going on.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey looked at him good and hard and what he got from his analysis was that, well, he had a round face and small eyes and maybe a nice smile. But, apart from that, nothing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Iggy's face was not pleasing or displeasing. It was a face he had been seeing for thirty years and that was it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A face that was now staring at him in confusion. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Are you sure you're okay, Mickey?” he asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm fine! Fuck off!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He decided to get away from Iggy's concerned stares and went to the back, where the androids were sleeping. They would be awake at 5:55 pm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There were three androids and seven gynoids. Terry didn't really care for same sex relations as long as it was with robots. As he had said more than once, androids were things, and men could do whatever the hell they wanted with them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Since they had still an hour before opening time, Mickey had thought that he could use it to see if at least one of the robots could be defined as attractive to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He started from Svetlana.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It took him a total of two seconds to realize that no, he was not even infinitesimally attracted by her Russian ass.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Unsurprisingly, he wasn't feeling anything towards any of the gynoids, even if each one was very different from the other. His eyes lingered more on the androids. Well, not all of them. Cole he basically skipped. The twink was maybe pretty but he was annoying as fuck. The other two got most of his attention, but none of them could be labelled by Mickey as beautiful. They were attractive, he guessed. But one had this very lithe, fragile looking body and it wasn't doing anything to Mickey. The last one was muscular, with porcelain skin and strawberry blond hair. Mickey discovered he liked muscles. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He resolved to do something he had once given shit to Terry's nephew Jaime for doing. He touched an android while he was shut down. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey always thought that no one should have their way with a sleeping android. Even though sex androids were always eager, it didn't mean one could have them while they were not conscious. It wasn't fair. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yet Mickey himself didn't resist the temptation to touch the arm of the muscular looking android. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn't know why, but the muscles felt good under his fingertips. Android synthetic skin was as similar to humans as possible and it was warm, porose and Mickey could feel the soft hair covering the forearm. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wasn't getting hard by touching the other android, but it was certainly pleasurable. His features were objectively handsome, with a straight nose, a strong chin, and full lips. But they weren't doing much for Mickey. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He opted, however, to try one more thing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey hadn't expected to become a sex crazed doll, but he hadn't thought that an orange and a fucking bottle tap would have become the highlights of his day. So he went to the adjacent bathroom and closed himself inside. He didn't bother to glance at his mirrored image and simply pulled his pants and boxers down. He took a good, long look at his penis instead. It was rather dull, as all penises were, in Mickey's opinion, hanging limp between his legs. Pink and averaged size, it wasn't a wonder to him, as instead Iggy's own was to himself. Mickey remembered having discovered Iggy jerking off more than once when he had been in his early teens.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He knew the basics, so he closed his fingers around his limp cock. Alright. Let's do this. He pulled at it, gingerly. He had never really touched it before, he had seen no use since he didn't need to pee. He kept on moving his hand. Up and down. The cock had a weird consistency, soft but not entirely soft, and kind of smooth and-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oh.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Another tug.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Oh</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>The other androids were still sleeping by the time he exited the bathroom. He was glad. He didn't want to face them right after what had just happened.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It had been good.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Like, </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span>, </span>
  <em>
    <span>very</span>
  </em>
  <span> good. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now, did he want to do it again soon?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hell yeah!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But he was also a good employee and he was aware he had his duties. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The club opened for the public and customers started to visit. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey had decided to not go to his office or he would've been tempted to try jerking off again. It would've been bad if someone caught him in the act. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So he loitered around the bar. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Are you sure you're okay?” Iggy asked again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fuck. Did Iggy choose that moment to become a fucking psychic? "Why the fuck would I not be?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man shrugged. "I don't know, Mick. Before you played with an orange then you became strangely fascinated with my face-"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Not true. Your face is dumb."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"- and now you're staring at those homos in the lounge. I worry, you know."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Iggy seemed visibly concerned by his health. It made him feel… weird. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Listen. If it can make you feel better. I'll call Gallagher here. Just for a check up," Mickey suggested, using that excuse to have Ian there.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, yeah… I think that's a good idea." He nodded and resumed his work on the cocktail he was preparing. "Man, sometimes these old fairies give me the creeps," he commented, pointing towards the customers Mickey was staring at earlier.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe he was true. Maybe those old fuckers were creepy, groping those young looking androids. But that was not the reason why Mickey was watching them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was the whole act that fascinated Mickey. He had seen the same groping, touching, kissing and fucking scenes for three decades and it had never had an effect on him. Now though, he couldn't tear his eyes off of them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Both the androids and the men seemed so into it, so into those lips caressing their bodies and those hands squeezing and cocks…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cole was not so very discreetly feeling up his customer's cock above his pants. He was making him hard when he raised his eyes and found Mickey's. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He winked at him as he would usually do when Mickey would scold him for being naughty (or, in Mickey's words, a "fucking slut, they gotta go to the rooms and pay you, you fuckhead!") and then he whispered something to the client, who nodded and followed him into one of the rooms. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm going to my office, Iggy," Mickey said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn't wait to see if the barman had actually heard him and went to Terry's office instead, where the cameras to the rooms were. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He sent a quick text to Ian first, telling him that he was going to do a check up on him, in case Iggy asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then Mickey was free to spy into what was happening in room number two.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cole wasn't his type and that old queen of a customer wasn't very attractive or fit, and yet Mickey wanted to watch. Cole had undressed himself of his shorts and thong and he was now kneeling between the man's legs. The android pulled the client's zip down and pulled his now hard cock out. They had shitty cameras, Mickey didn't know what Cole said, but he knew it had to be something filthy because the guy groaned and motioned for him to take his cock in his mouth, which Cole readily agreed. Mickey had watched androids give and receive blowjobs so many times already. But this time it was different. He had felt on his own skin what a gentle pressure on a cock meant. If a hand had felt good, Mickey could only imagine what a tongue and a mouth would do to him. It had to be very warm and his cock could just slide in and out so easily… he could also be the one taking it, he thought. Even if the man in the camera was not even remotely attractive and his cock was tiny, Mickey found himself touching his own lips, sliding a finger into his mouth. He wondered what a human cock tasted like. His own didn't have a particular taste, indefinite as a synthetic skin can be. But humans smelled. They had particular body odors. Some were sweet, others nasty, others simply repugnant. Ian had always had a nice smell on him, distinguishable from the cologne he would sometimes wear, simply his own scent. Oh, Cole was now on top of the man, guiding the man's cock into his hole. Sex adroids didn't need preparation to have anal sex. Had Ian made him that way too? Mickey knew Ian was gay, so probably he had thought of giving him that feature too. It would've been a pity if he could have sex now and his fucking asshole would not open. Cole was riding the client, up and down, and the man seemed so excited, he had his hands gripping firmly at the android's sides, helping him in the movement. Cole was so into it too, but then, Cole was always into it. Would Mickey be into it? It looked such an easy thing to do. Up and down. Up and down. Up and down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a knock on the door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Mickey?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian's voice came on the other side of the door. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey looked away from the cameras and looked down. He was </span>
  <em>
    <span>hard</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"How the fuck are you already here?" Mickey shouted, visibly flustered. How was he supposed to will the hard-on to go away? Well, it was Ian, so maybe the guy would be pleased to know that the operation had been a success.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I was already closeby. I actually had to wait so Iggy wouldn't be suspicious… Can I come in?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"He's too dumb to notice," Mickey said. He stood up. "Okay, but, don't judge. It's your fucking fault."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What?” Ian opened the door. "What do you mean- Ah."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey supposed that by human standards he should be fucking embarrassed to be caught with a blatant erection. But Mickey wasn't human and he didn't live up to anyone's standard.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>What made him speechless for about five seconds was Ian himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>How weird. Mickey had thought that, since Ian was canonically handsome, he would've been attracted to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Instead he discovered how much he wanted to punch his stupid freckled face, pull his orange red hair, also probably throw him on the floor and get on top of him, to beat his ass. Yeah, those had to be the reasons why he was feeling this strong urge to put his hands on him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Like, so much.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Stupid Ian with his stupid face and stupid red hair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And that fucking smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That fell as soon as he saw Mickey's situation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You got a boner," he said, swallowing loudly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No shit. Any tips for making it go, like, down?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian scratched his head, visibly embarrassed. "Uh… I usually picture my Grammy's tits, but you don't have one so I'd say, think of something really ugly?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Like last August's revenue?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The redhead shrugged. "If that's your thing."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's-" on the cameras, the client came. Well, good for him. "I'll try."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian took his  coat off, dropping it on the armchair next to the door. "Did Iggy see you like that? He just said that you're weird today."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No, no. Iggy cannot know. He's good enough, but he can't keep a secret if his life depended on it. He just surprised me today while I was spacing out." Mickey sat down. If Gallagher stopped looking at his boner maybe it would go down on its own.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You never do that."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I do it now, it seems. I was exploring my new sensorial enhancement." And now he felt as if he was in sensorial overload. Ian hadn't come any closer, but the desire of running his hands through those red hair had yet to subside.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well, I'll take it as your quest went pretty nicely," Ian said with a mischievous grin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey pointed it at his fading erection. Thinking about calculus was working. Math was the answer for everything. "This was only the cherry on top. At first it seemed it didn't work, but it did."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian nodded. "It makes sense. Your senses had to get used to the inputs they were receiving. And now you got your first hard-on, I'm almost moved," he said, wiping an imaginary tear away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Second," Mickey corrected. Because, you know, math.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Second one already? Mick, you always surprise me." Ian chuckled. He came closer and sat on one of the chairs in front of the desk.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian seemed giddy, but the fact that a second erection had surprised him rang an alarm in Mickey's head. "I'm not becoming a doll, am I."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man didn't even have to think about it. "No. Their brain is designed very differently from yours. And I saw your brain like yesterday. I guess it just means that you, as Mickey, like sex. I just enabled you to know that and act upon it. So, you're welcome."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Thanks?” Mickey said, unconvinced. "I still don't know if I like sex. I guess I do, I masturbated and it felt good, but how am I supposed to be sure? I like males and we only have three androids here and they are, how would you say, not my type."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>While Mickey was talking, Ian had violently coughed two times, exactly at the words "masturbated" and "I like males". Mickey had registered and categorized that as Ian being the usual embarrassed human being. Humans could never be analytical about sex. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian was silent for a while. He seemed to ponder about Mickey’s words, so the android let him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"There are humans as well, Mickey," he suggested.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey shrugged. As if he hadn't thought about it. "Yes, but it's riskier. And the clients are usually old and ugly."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Not the clients then," Ian half-whispered. Mickey noticed an increase in the man's heartbeat. Ian should go check that up one of these days. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Iggy? Absolutely not. One, he doesn't like males, two, it'd be like telling Terry, and three, I mean I saw the guy today and I have to say he's not attra-"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What about me."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian had said it so low that Mickey wasn't sure he had actually heard him right.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What about me," he repeated, this time loud enough for the android to not have any doubts about his words.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You,” Mickey said. He didn't have a heart, his fluids would move through his body without the need of pumping valves, but Ian's words created a certain turmoil in him, even if Mickey could not pinpoint how.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yes, me." Ian was talking more confident now, looking at Mickey straight in the eyes. "I do like males, I would never tell Terry, and people say I am attractive."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I don't know about that. I think I just want to fight you," Mickey replied. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian seemed to deflate a bit for about a second. And then he just bursted into laughter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You want to fight me."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>What was so fun about that? Mickey knew how to beat the shit out of someone, Terry and his sons had taught him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah? So what. I can take you."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Would you like to kiss me, though."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That took him by surprise. He had not expected the question and, and he wasn't sure how to answer.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian took his silence for a negative answer, but he didn't seem upset about it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Have you ever thought about kissing someone before?" Ian asked, a soft smile on his lips. Mickey's eyes focused on them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm thinking about it now," Mickey replied in all honesty. "Your lips are thin."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"True," Ian convened. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'd kiss them."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I thought you wanted to fight me."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey wanted to fight him. Show him hard in the chest, making him fall, pin him down. And kiss him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That too," Mickey replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian nodded. "Alright then."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He left the chair and went behind the desk, right in front of a seated Mickey, who looked up. "Fight me."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey was going to. He was going to beat the shit out of him. That was what he wanted. So much.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He stood up. He wasn't as tall as Ian but he knew how to look imposing and dangerous. He looked at the redhead, up and down, starting from his red hair, to his solid chest, narrow waist and long legs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And then he acted. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey was ready to throw a punch against Ian. He had the right stance, he did the right movement. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But instead of actually punching him in the chest, he grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him closer, his eyes zeroing in once again on those damned lips.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I think you want to kiss me more," Ian said, his warm breath softly caressing Mickey's face. The android realized that the man had never once seemed scared of him. "May I kiss you, Mickey?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey found himself nodding eagerly and Ian simply closed the distance between their mouths, capturing his lips in a kiss.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey had had his first orgasm a few hours earlier, but that hadn't readied him for kissing Ian. There wasn't even tongue involved yet, only lips against lips. A warm and soft kiss that made Mickey crave for more. He opened his mouth, letting Ian in. The android discovered how much he liked the taste and he pushed himself against Ian's body, cradling his neck with one hand to pull them closer together. Ian let him, placing his own hands against his back. But when Mickey tried to touch his dick, the man stopped the kissing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"W-wait, Mick-" Mickey didn't let him finish and went back for his lips. Ian had been right. He wanted to kiss him more. He wanted to continue. "No. We can't…"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>With some struggle, Ian detached himself from the android. Mickey snapped.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What the fuck!" Now he really wanted to beat him up. "Why did you fucking stop?" </span>
</p><p>
  <span>What was the point of kissing him and making him feel those… those things. And then stop. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian had at least the decency of looking sorry. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Because…" He placed both of his hands on Mickey's shoulders. Mickey shrugged and Ian let them drop by his sides. "Because you're not ready, Mick."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"The fuck are you saying? You made me ready."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No I- I made it possible for you, but it doesn't mean that you have to."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey scoffed. "I want to."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The redhead shook his head. "You live in a very hypersexualized place. You've seen Sex As have sex the same day they are out of their box, and right now you are basically into overdrive from the so many emotions you're experiencing. I think you need to give it a rest, first."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I need to," Mickey repeated, not convinced. Even though he knew that on some level Ian was saying reasonable things, he didn't really feel like obliging him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah," Ian nodded. "And you know what, I swear that if you'll still want to have sex with me after clearing your mind a bit, then we'll fuck."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You know I'm not some kind of stupid tv show kid, right? I won't regret losing my virginity or some shit. That's human behavior." He wasn't a blushing maiden, he didn't want to be treated as such.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I thought you'd like to be more human."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Humans are dumb fucks," Mickey spat. The redhead laughed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That we are," he convened. "Then welcome to our world. We are glad you could join us."</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>- The cleaning gynoid is Sheila Jackson, obviously. Her story here is actually quite sad. She was initially created as a nanny, but after she had a mulfuncion and almost drowned the child she was supposed to care for, she was reprogrammed and used as a cleaning robot for a cheap ass cleaning crew</p><p>- Yes I wanted to let Mickey have his first orgasm by himself. I skipped the masturbation scene, poor guy</p><p>- don't worry about Sandy ;)</p><p>If you want to chat: my tumblr <a href="https://jainsel-and-the-ships.tumblr.com">JAinsel &amp; the Ships</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. First trial</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Mickey's at a BBQ</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>So, Ian had told him to give it a rest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fuck that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey had discovered the pleasures of masturbation and, at least that, he could do to his own satisfaction. He wasn't a hormonal human teen, he didn't have fucking hormones, but he found it quite nice to be able to jerk off once every morning. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Initially he had thought of going against Ian's advice and try to fuck another android, but then he had decided not to. As he had said to the redhead, he wasn't a blushing maiden, he didn't find virginity something to hold dear. It was an archaic concept and nobody should really care for it. And yet he didn't want to try sex with someone other than Ian first. It would be pretty stupid to find someone else when Ian was already willing, right? In a way, it was actually Ian's duty to let him have a satisfactory experience since he had been the one to bring the whole sex thing to his attention in the first place.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Problem was that none of the androids and gynoids at the club had any functioning problems, so he didn't have any excuse to call for Ian. And Ian wasn't showing up even just to say hello to Iggy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>One thing was sure: Mickey wasn't going to make the first move. He wasn't chasing a fucker who had told him he was not fucking ready. He had his pride, born out of years and years of verbal abuses. He was hella tough. Ian could go fuck himself if he wasn't gonna fuck Mickey.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Plus sometimes even Mickey could get enough distractions to not think about having sex for a few hours.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Iggy and Colin had organized their yearly First BBQ of the Year, a heavy barbeque session they usually hosted around the middle of May, when there was a seventy to thirty chance of being fucking freezing outside with a side of snowstorm. They said they liked the risk, but just to be sure to keep their guests happy, they would bring heaters to their usual venue, an abandoned building that had been there throughout the Southside gentrification rising and subsequent failure.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This time around the weather was cold but sunny and people could manage to stay outside wearing coats and jackets, keeping warm by drinking booze and staying close to the fire. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey was invited, as always. He hadn't always accepted in the past, but it figured he could use the diversion from his boring life at the club. The grill was at noon and it would continue way past midnight but he and the least drunk between Colin and Iggy would go back to work at six pm so Terry wouldn't get angry. The nightclub was open seven days out of seven, only exception to natural calamities.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He had a beer in his hands even if he couldn't drink it. He didn't need it to blend in with the crowd, it would be impossible with his artificial bright blue eyes, but rather because he didn't mind feeling it between his hands. He liked the cold while standing so close to a fire. Go figure.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>What he certainly didn't enjoy was the unwanted attention he was attracting on himself just by being there and existing. Humans had the obnoxious ability of busting his balls as soon as they approached him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Like this fucker Julia, a spoiled teenager who should start learning boundaries soon or he would make her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's so cool that Iggy brought you here!" She said. "My cunt of a mother doesn't let me take our maid anywhere. As if I could misplace her or anything. I just wanted to show her and she could've helped with the grill. Are you going to clean, after? Or are you going to entertain the guests?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey arched his eyebrows. "Excuse me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She didn't seem even a bit bothered by Mickey's menacing tone. "Yeah. Are you one of Iggy's dolls?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey's eyes widened and he was ready to tell her off, when Colin appeared and put himself between him and Julia. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Mick! Here you are, come help me with the beer crates they just brought." The Milkovich guy placed an arm on his shoulders and steered him away from the girl.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Sorry 'bout that," he whispered. "We all know she's a fucking bitch, but Iggy says she lets him do anal."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Because that totally changed things.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Isn't she like, five?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Colin shrugged. "Sixteen."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey should add 'underage' to the list of catastrophical features for Iggy's girls. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Anyway, please try to avoid her. Her mother's tight with the police and it won't do us any good if she goes back home sobbing because an android has been mean to her. Even if I'd love to see someone punch her in that ugly mug," he said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's fine. But if she comes near me again, I can't promise</span>
</p><p>
  <span>you anything."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"If she bothers you again, I'll kick her ass for you," Colin promised with a grin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey snickered. He was aware of his position in society, but he also knew Colin and the others cared for him enough and he was pretty sure the guy would really beat the girl up for him if the situation arised.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'd like to see that. You kick like a girl."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Colin laughed. "I can promise you there are girls who could whoop your ass just like that- oh, speaking of the devil. Vee!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man waved to a beautiful woman with a body that yes, it looked like it could totally beat someone up with ease. There was a huge man standing next to her, with one keg at each side of him. Mickey remembered having seen both of them at one of Colin and Iggy's parties before.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kevin and Veronica if he remembered correctly. He did, of course.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They smiled at them and Kevin fist bumped Colin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hey man! Thank you for having us," he said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She rolled her eyes. "As if they wouldn't invite us. We supply them with way too much beer, hon."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Colin chuckled. "We invite you because you're always so sweet."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She didn't look even a little convinced by his words. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You little asshole," she said jokingly. Then she looked directly at Mickey. "How are you… Mickey, is it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The android nodded. "Yeah. I'm good. Just making sure these Milkovich fuckheads don't run into trouble."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Which was actually true, in part.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Good luck with that!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Colin and Kevin took one keg each, the latter with ease, the former looking as if he was going to drop it any second. Veronica grabbed Mickey by the arm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Let them go starting on the beer, come with me," she said with a smile. Mickey let her drag him towards a group of women who were happily chatting amongst themselves. "Ladies, this is Mickey," she introduced him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They mostly said hi to him and he nodded at their general direction. He didn't have much knowledge of female humans, he only knew he was always kind of uncomfortable with them. Weird beings. They said one thing, they meant another. Even as a highly functional android it was hard to understand them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, hey Mickey, how are you?" A brunette asked. Mickey immediately recognized her as Ian's older sister Fiona. It had been a while since he had last seen her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You grew new wrinkles," he commented. Her eyes widened in offense and she showed him the bird.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Fuck you Mickey!” She exclaimed but with no real heat behind her words. "You're a savage like all the other Milkoviches."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Technically, Mickey was a Milkovich. Like any other robots that were Terry's proprietary, he was registered under the Milkovich last name. It wasn't any different than registering your dog at the vet. However, hearing Fiona put him together with the Milkovich family, as if he was part of it like a relative, gave him a strange feeling, one that he couldn't exactly pinpoint. Pride? Longing? He didn't really want to think about it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Gallaghers are just as savage," Mickey replied. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Ha! Maybe in the past, we've kinda climbed the ladder now. But you should know that." Mickey arched an eyebrow. What the fuck was that supposed to mean? "You're in contact with Ian, are you not? I think he still does maintenance at Terry's."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oh. That.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah." He nodded. "We see him from time to time."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was nothing in Fiona's tone of voice or face expression that would indicate that she knew more than what she was saying, so Mickey was more at ease now. The fewer people knew about his upgrade and better was for him. And for Ian, probably. Terry wouldn't appreciate his unapproved freebie.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey relaxed and the group of women was again at it with their chatter. It was different from the noise he was accustomed to, made of moans and masculine voices. It was nice, actually.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Okay, should I get back together with him?" </span>
</p><p>
  <span>One of the girls asked, a blonde. The others sighed loudly, apparently a sign that that wasn't the first time they had heard that question. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No and no. You should know better by now, girl. He doesn't deserve you," Veronica said. It seemed to gather the crowd general approval.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The blonde still didn't seem convinced, but the others were there for her, giving her advice. Mickey had no idea a relationship could be so complicated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And it seemed every woman there had their share of problems when it came to their sex life. One wasn't sure on how many men made her seem easy to the eyes of other men; another was struggling dealing with having too many people in the house with husband and children and her in-laws. Issues that Mickey had never thought could even exist were now a serious subject and he would be lying if he wasn't fascinated by them. Some of their problems almost seemed to touch home. One in particular.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I swear I don't know why he doesn't want to have sex. I mean, is it me? Is it because I'm fat?” she lamented.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fat. What was up with women and being fat? They had said the word 'fat' at least a dozen times already. It was like an obsession. Mickey couldn't understand why for the life of him. Not all of those women would ever be always thin and perfect like a gynoid could be. And frankly there was no need. Imperfections were better than perfections in his opinion. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But they were obsessed, so.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You're not fat. Your BMI is what, 23.5? You're average. If you are worried about your belly fat, you should cut your beer intake and start going to the gym," he said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He knew it was of course impossible, but he could swear, those eyes could kill. Every woman in that group shot him a deadly glare that made him instantly shut the hell up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He thought he was being nice. Fuck them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They all reassured the woman she wasn't fat and that her man was probably a dick, but she insisted that he was actually really nice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Like, he always takes me to dates… but we only kiss and he says I'm important and I'm not like the others so he doesn't want to rush," she continued.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They all cooed around her. Apparently a few of them knew the guy she was talking about and it was the general opinion that he was indeed serious about this new relationship.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Maybe he thinks you're a virgin," Mickey supplied when no one asked him to. But hey, sue him. He was having a similar problem. Even if he understood Ian's point of view he also didn't see the point of it. He really wanted to try to have sex with Ian.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They all laughed at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh I'm no virgin," the girl replied, still giggling. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Believe us Mickey, none of us kept our purity for very long," Veronica said. "And the majority of the guys here in the Southside are not exactly gentlemen."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah." Fiona nodded. "Even my brothers. The older ones are keeping their heads straight now but they had their fair share of women. And men. Thinking about it, even Debbie is pretty aggressive in her conquests."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey knew of some of Ian's romantic life. Ian had never said much to him, but Iggy would tell. Or Colin. It had never bothered him before, but now he couldn't exactly say that that information wasn't doing anything to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He and Ian should totally fuck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Do you watch romcoms?” Vee asked as if that was the most hilarious thing in the world. Fucking humans and they're notion that a robot would not enjoy television. "I'll tell you this: virginity is overrated, it had been since the fucking middle ages. But most guys would jump at the opportunity to sleep with a virgin. It's like, you know, you're their first. Like imprinting a duck. Then again, there are a few scumbags here and there that wouldn't know what to do with a virgin."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fiona rolled her eyes. "Yeah, like they are afraid that after we'd be so attached to them and their tiny dicks."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They laughed, but Mickey was now processing the new information. It was… well, interesting.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fiona started to talk about her past scumbag lovers and that was when a certain redhead made his appearance. He didn't notice Mickey, but the android did. Ian's hair looked even brighter that day thanks to the direct sunlight. It made the red shine and his skin ever whiter. He still looked pretty punchable in Mickey's opinion. He wanted to kiss those rosy lips again, feel that body against his. Damn, he looked good. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Jimmy/Steve was one of the worst. I'm glad you got rid of him," Ian commented from behind Fiona </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She turned around and smiled at her brother. "Hey stranger! Nice of you to finally show up!" She exclaimed, hugging him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian accepted the hug and in that moment he saw Mickey. The android detected at first surprise in his expression. Overall, Ian seemed happy to find him at the party.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hey Mick, I'm glad Iggy and Colin got you here. You never come to their parties," he greeted him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I can't drink or eat, and that makes parties rather boring," Mickey replied with a shrug. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, we still don't have upgrades for that kind of stuff. Sorry."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Wouldn't want that. I'm good with not having to piss and shit, thank you. You humans are disgusting beasts."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian chuckled and Mickey smiled. He liked being able to make Ian laugh. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The redhead pointed towards the kegs. "I'm gonna get a beer, come with me?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The android simply nodded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So? Are you having fun?" he asked Mickey as soon as they put enough distance from the women. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The android shrugged. "It's fine," he said. Ian had left his jacket unzipped and he only had a green v-neck shirt underneath. It looked good on him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You're gonna get a cold," Mickey said, pointing at his naked throat. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian looked down. "Nah. It's sunny and there are heaters. Are you worried about me, Mickey?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Fuck off. I haven't seen you for weeks, I can deal without seeing you some more because you're sick in bed."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The redhead grinned. "Aw, Mick. You missed me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The fuck. Why would Ian take everything he said as concern for him? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I really don't," he replied. "In fact, I am planning on finding someone else to fuck so you don't need to bother yourself."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian stilled at his words. He looked shocked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What? You don't think I can find someone?" Okay, that was probably going to be an issue. Ian seemed to be the only gay guy at the party, and even if there was someone else -because statistically there had to be- he'd have to have an interest in androids as well. But Ian didn't need to know that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No, that's not-" he sighed. "I told you we can fuck when you're ready."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, that's an excuse. The truth is you don't want to fuck me because you're a scumbag who doesn't know what to do with a virgin."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He had probably hit a nerve, because Ian seemed at loss for words. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I am… a scumbag?” Ian repeated. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Uh uh." Mickey nodded towards the group of women still happily chatting amongst themselves. "That's what they say. I kind of think they are right."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian opened his mouth to reply, then he closed it. He jutted his chin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Alright, let's go to my house," he said after a few seconds. Mickey wasn't sure why Ian's certain tone of voice made him feel all bubbly inside, but it did. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Can't do. Work starts at 6, I'm going with Colin or Iggy, depending on who's the most sober."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian shook his head. "No, I'll accompany you to work after, but first we're going to my place."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh yeah," Mickey said, raising his eyebrows in an act of pure challenge. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah." Ian nodded. "Let's go fuck."</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Contrary to Mickey's expectations, leaving the party with Ian had not been a big issue. Ian said something about a general check-up on Mickey and Iggy gave his blessing. He seemed already on his way to getting completely wasted. Mickey guessed Colin was going to be the barman that night. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So they were going to Ian's home to fuck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey had initially thought of making Ian sweat for it, but then he had also thought, why should he? He was obtaining what he wanted. Fucking finally. Probably Ian wasn't even that much into it, he was doing a favor to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This time too their ride was silent, but the atmosphere in the car was different. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey didn't say anything, feeling excited about the new situation. He couldn't even explain why, but he was really looking forward to have sex at Ian's. Ian had seemed on the verge of saying something more than once, but he had never uttered a single word except for "We're here" when they had approached his house. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian lived in a high rise condo with a view on the Michigan lake. It was nice. More than nice, actually. Mickey was used to the crappy nightclub, which looked decent only in dim lights. And he remembered Ian coming from a rundown childhood home, so his place now was a huge step up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You're doing good, Gallagher," Mickey commented once they were inside and he could see the lake. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian shrugged, visibly embarrassed by the compliment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It looks that way," he said. "But sometimes I miss the chaos there was in Canary Street. Here's always so silent and pristine."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I would kill for some silence. Club's way too noisy." Mickey wasn't even trying to hide that he was shamelessly checking the place out. Also, now that they were alone in the house, he didn't know how to get to the fucking. His experience was based on what would happen at the nightclub: humans came and </span>
  <em>
    <span>came</span>
  </em>
  <span>. That was it. But then why was Ian still standing next to the kitchen island, pouring himself a glass of Jack Daniels. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey decided to take the matter in his own hands. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He waited for Ian to take a last swig at the glass and marched straight up to him. The redhead had only the time of placing the glass down before Mickey kissed him on the mouth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hey Mick, so-" The rest of his words were swallowed by Mickey's mouth on his. Ian placed his hands against Mickey's shoulders, disentangling himself from the android. "The fuck!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey rolled his eyes. "Do you want to fuck me or not?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He swore Ian was giving so many mixed signals.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What kind of question is that," Ian asked, his hands still on Mickey's shoulders.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"A legitimate question. I promise I won't become so attached to you and your tiny dick."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian's lips formed a little smile. "Is that always from the ladies at the party?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey shrugged. "Maybe. They give good advice… So? What are you waiting for?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I…" Ian sighed. He started caressing his shoulders, gently. "I didn't want to rush into things, you know?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's been almost a fucking month," Mickey reminded him .</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian chuckled. "Not what I meant. I want to take my time with you. I want you to relax."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>While talking, Ian lowered his head to kiss him on the cheeks. His breath was hot, his lips were soft. "I want you to have a really good first experience."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian closed the little distance it separated his lips from Mickey's.  It didn't take long before their tongues met and the android could taste the liquor, the beer from before and simply Ian's saliva. He knew it couldn't be, but if he had to find a word to describe the taste it would be </span>
  <em>
    <span>intoxicating</span>
  </em>
  <span>. It had sparked all the sensors in his mouth and his brain was giving him all these confused responses on how to feel about it. Mickey was only sure he wanted more.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I trust you," he said once the kiss ended. And it was true. He did trust Ian.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn't think his words would mean much to the guy, but Ian's huge, earnest smile, got him thinking he had been wrong. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You do, huh," Ian said. "I'll do my best then."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He kissed him again, this time with more insistence, his hands rising from the shoulders to cup his face. Mickey didn't know what to do with his own hands, so he decided to place them against his lower back, for the moment. He just wanted to feel the kiss some more, bask in those huge hands covering his cheeks, giving him the idea that he was somehow important to the man in front of him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian stopped the kissing, only to take his hand and accompany him to the bedroom.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Would you, uhm, do you want to lay down?" Ian asked him once they were in front of the king sized bed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey raised his brows. "Shouldn't we be getting naked first?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian's eyes widened at his words and his face flushed red. "Uh yes! I mean, I thought I could undress you later, make out some more… but we could get naked now, sure."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey nodded. Better to get that part over with. He unzipped his jacket and threw it on the floor. The shirt followed right after. He noticed Ian was just looking, so he raised his eyebrows. The redhead took the hint and took off his t-shirt, but then stopped.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Wait."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was just a word, but it was commanding, and it had the effect of sending a shiver through Mickey's body. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He waited. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian stepped closer and simply took over. He started unbuckling Mickey's belt. The android let him. Ian lowered his jeans, and then his boxers, leaving him naked in front of the redhead. Mickey couldn't understand for the life of him why he was so aware of his nudity now, when the guy had seen and touched every bit of him already.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe it was the way Ian's eyes had darkened while undressing him, or the fact that his skin was now more sensible and every little touch had the effect of making his legs tremble.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Your turn," Mickey said, his voice steady when his body wasn't.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian was fast at taking off the remaining of his clothes, just stalling a bit before removing his briefs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey had seen Ian naked before. Well, for a second really, but his memory was perfect. It had happened a little more than ten years earlier, when the then teenager Ian had had sex with a Sex A. Mickey vividly remembered the redhead looking so embarrassed once he had caught him having just finished with the android. Mickey hadn't thought much of it then, Ian had paid and probably had a good time, but Ian had stopped coming to the establishment for a few weeks after that. Now, having Ian's stark naked body in front of him, had a completely different effect. In the sense that it was actually having an effect on him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian had a great body. Hell, he could be an android too for how well he was built, all toned with broad shoulders and strong muscles. Mickey's eyes wandered down, and his mouth started salivating. That was a new reflex, what the fuck. He had seen enough penises in his life, he had seen Ian's too in the past, but now he couldn't stop staring at Ian's cock, growing into a considerable erection. Well, more than considerable. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian lifted his chin with a finger and softly kissed him on the lips. He pulled his body closer to his own with one hand and deepened the kiss. Mickey wasn't sure of what to do with his hands, but he knew he really wanted to touch Ian's dick, so-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Ow ow!" Ian grimaced and took a step back "You're squeezing too much!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Wha- shit, sorry, man!” Mickey let go.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The redhead shook his head. "No, it's fine. It's…" he grabbed Mickey's hands and put it on his erection, teaching him how to touch it. "Okay, just like that."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey moved his hand on the length, feeling it becoming harder and longer. He had never touched another dick before, just his own and only very recently, but he discovered he fucking liked it. It was a hot and yes, powerful feeling, to see Ian's face clearly enjoying his care.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"W-wait a second, Mickey," Ian whispered. He detached himself from Mickey and the android thought he had done something bad, but Ian kissed him again and made him lay on the bed. "It was getting too good. I'd like you to have your first time before I come."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were rubbing against each other now, and Mickey was feeling good. Then Ian started kissing him all over his body, and Mickey thought he could start crying.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Need to check if all your sensors work," Ian said, kissing one of his tattooed knuckles. And the other. And the palm of his hand. His arm. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Fuck</span>
  </em>
  <span>, his neck - what was with his toes curling? Was it normal? "And I think they do."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian's voice was getting so low and husky and it made him feel all tingly inside and Mickey found himself at loss for words, except</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Mh. It's good."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian chuckled. "It is, isn't it."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then the redhead's mouth found his erection and it was even better.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian didn't just kiss it, it licked it and took it in his mouth and, scratch the word better, it was </span>
  <em>
    <span>glorious</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Mickey had thought masturbation was nice, but that was something else. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Can I… can I do the same?” Mickey asked. He didn't have trouble breathing, he didn't breathe at all, but his voice sounded small and but a whisper.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian kissed the inside of his thighs. "Sure. After."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He moved back on top of Mickey and kissed him on his mouth. Androids didn't have a definite taste, so Ian's tongue didn't feel any different from before the blowjob.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I wonder what you taste like," Mickey said. "Down there."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian closed his eyes and sighed as if in defeat. "Please, Mick. Don't make me come before I fuck you."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey didn't understand his words, at first he wanted to ask for an explanation, but all his questions dissipated all of a sudden, when Ian opened his legs and probed a finger inside his asshole.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Androids do self lubricate," Ian was saying. "But I'd like to prep you a little first, let you feel what it's like, is that okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey had never nodded faster in his life.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At first the sensation was of a slight discomfort, nothing to do with the ecstasy he had watched happen on the cameras. Ian kissed him through the first, the second and the third finger.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You good?" Ian whispered against his lips. Mickey shrugged.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Don't feel much, man. Are you sure you got the sensors activated there too?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian nodded. "Of course. It will take a little time, don't worry. Is it okay if I go in?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You mean it's okay if you stick your dick in me? Yeah, totally. But I swear. You better work your magic, because I didn't let you give me that enhancement and then have a numb asshole- Fuck!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian had entered and Mickey didn't know how his body worked down there, but </span>
  <em>
    <span>holy fuck</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What the fuck was that," Mickey murmured.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I hit you in the right spot," Ian said with a grin. He kissed him on the top of his nose. "Now just relax and enjoy it."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And enjoy it he did. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>How the fuck was it possible that a dick in his ass could feel so good? And yet it did, over and over again. Mickey hooked his legs around Ian's waist, keeping him closer and deeper in him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Fuck fuck." Mickey was reciting a mantra consisting of only one world.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I know, Mickey. I know," Ian whispered in his ear, in that fucking low voice. "You feel so tight."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey felt as if he was in overdrive. He was burning up and he couldn't make a sense of what was happening around him. Only Ian and his dick and his burning lips and that voice. Something was building inside of him and it reached its climax by turning his sight white for a moment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Wow.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Wow</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It took him a while to come down from his high, to be aware of his surroundings once again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He felt Ian pull out from him and lay on the bed next to him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey found himself chuckling. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So this is what I've been missing for thirty years."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian propped himself on his elbow. He kissed his shoulder. "I take it you liked it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Fuck yes I liked it."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The redhead smiled. "Glad to be of service."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Thank you for your service," Mickey said. "And, I mean, also, I guess, for the upgrade. You really gave my body some nice features."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Don't mention it."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They basked in the afterglow in silence, sometimes Ian would kiss his skin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey checked the time. There was still time before Ian would have to take him back to the club. He turned his head towards Ian.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So, you ready to go again, Firecrotch, or you need some time?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian smiled and in a second he was on top of him.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Fyi Julia is Debbie's (and Carl's) Julia</p><p>Yep! Mickey does have knuckles tattoos. Iggy and Colin had fun one night tattooing him.</p><p>If you want to chat: my tumblr <a href="https://jainsel-and-the-ships.tumblr.com">JAinsel &amp; the Ships</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Trial and Error</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Mickey thinks he need to test it with others</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Mickey had discovered a new whole wide world.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Who knew sex was that good?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He and Ian had managed only the time for a second round before the man had had to accompany him to work. It had been even better than the first time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And now Mickey was thinking about having sex again. Soon.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That same night, Mickey accompanied dear old Anton, the muscular android, to the back and closed the door. He didn't even need to convince him, Anton was always eager and they went straight to the fucking. The Sex A had him pinned against the wall and pistoned into him just like Mickey had requested. They both came.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anton was totally satisfied, Mickey was disappointed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The whole experience had been good, overall, but fucking Anton was like fucking Iggy, or Colin. In human standards it would've been like fucking his own brother.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Also, androids had no taste, no scent except a faint smell of synthetic skin. Ian had a distinctive body odour, and his mouth tasted amazing. Mickey wanted to feel that, other than get his ass played with. He had his sensors activated now, they had to be used.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was why the next day Mickey decided he should try another human. Terry was once again AWOL and Iggy was too busy flirting with a lovely courier who was just there to deliver a package, but had accepted a free drink. It was the perfect time to act.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey looked around in search of a possible target and his eyes zeroed in on Lewd Lloyd, comfortably sprawled on one of the sofas in the lounge.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As his nickname would suggest, he wouldn't have been Mickey's first choice, but the android was pretty sure the man wouldn't take too much cajoling to agree to fuck him. He was always down for sex and he had always hinted he would've loved to do Mickey, if he had read all his innuendos correctly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey grabbed the cocktail Iggy had half-assedly prepared for Lishman while talking to the girl, and he offered to bring it to the man.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Thanks Mick. I owe you," Iggy said with a wink.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Don't worry about it."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey had his own agenda. He brought the cocktail to Lewd Lloyd, who was delighting himself in watching Anton shaking his booty on stage. The man gave him the usual once-over with his trademark lascivious smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's always an honor when you bring me a drink," he said. He caressed the hand handing him the cocktail, nothing new. Mickey resisted the urge of a nasty come back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Sure," he said instead. Lishman took a sip of his glass.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>How was it possible that that man could transform even a simple action like drinking into a sinful act? Mickey was tempted to quickly hit him in the throat to make him choke.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That would've been fun.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But not what he had come here for.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He just didn't know how to broach the subject.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lishman licked his lips. "Don't tell Iggy, but I actually prefer Colin's Rob-"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So do you want to chit chat some more or you wanna get on me?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It seemed he didn't need to use his hands to make the man choke on his drink, because his words managed the same effect.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"W-what?" Lishman stuttered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You want to fuck me, right?” Mickey couldn't look him in the eyes while talking. He just wanted to get this over with. "You won the lottery, champ. It will only cost you double the usual. Now follow me."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn't wait for Lewd Lloyd and walked towards his office. He heard the man's steps behind him, though. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He lied to Iggy telling him he needed to discuss numbers with Lishman. The Milkovich man wasn't even listening to him as engrossed as he was with his flirting session.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey closed the door as soon as Lishman was inside his office. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man smiled at him, in a wolf-like manner. "Mickey, I can't believe you have finally caved"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I didn't fucking cave. You got a dick. I need to try it," Mickey replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You know my dear, I have to warn you it can give quite an addiction."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey raised his eyebrows. "So much so you gotta come to a whorehouse? Please. Let's just be honest: you're a geriatric viagroid who needs to pay to get young ass, synthetic or not."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lishman opened his mouth to argue, but Mickey shushed him. "Let's just do this and please fucking shut up."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He started unbuttoning his shirt and Lishman seemed to have decided to actually zip it, because he mimicked Mickey's actions on his own button down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before Mickey could go for his pants, Lishman was on him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He attached his lips to Mickey's neck, leaving a trail of sloppy kisses that the android tried to endure but really, they disgusted him. They were wet and supposedly sexual but all Mickey could think was how fastidious the smooching sound was, or how stinky Lewd Lloyd's cologne smelled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He felt good with Ian, he didn't feel anything with Anton, but he definitely hated being touched by the old man.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lishman's hands were moving on Mickey's chest, shoulders, and they were going lower and lower, working on his belt and pushing one hand inside his pants to grab his dick.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm going to make you feel so good, Mickey…" he said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Something was wrong.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey couldn't explain it, but he knew this wasn't what he wanted. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Something was fucking wrong.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>"Nah, man. I don't think it's working," Mickey said, placing a hand against Lishman's chest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man wasn't even listening to him, so enthralled as he was with working Mickey’s pants open.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>How could that old man get so handsy? Shouldn't he get, like, arthritis or something?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey pushed him away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I said no."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lishman shook his head, undeterred. "I'm paying double, Mickey. I'm getting what I want."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Not gonna happen."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lishman was probably a person who always got what he wanted, because Mickey's words fell on deaf ears. He was on him again and had the android pinned against his desk.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What the fuck!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Okay, Mickey was so fed up with Lishman now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As soon as the old man tried to kiss him on the mouth, Mickey head-butted him straight into that smug face and blood exploded from Lewd Lloyd's nose.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Mickey!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian's voice captured his attention from that beautiful spectacle that was Lishman's soon to be bruised face and Mickey saw the redhead standing by the open door, Iggy by his side. They both had wide eyes and he guessed they were probably elaborating the scene in front of them: Mickey half naked on his desk with an equally half naked Lloyd Lishman crutching at his probably broken nose, a few feet from him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>While he thought he would have to justify himself for having mauled a customer, it seemed he didn't need to worry, because the two guys jumped to their own conclusions.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You fucking freak!" Iggy shouted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"C'mon, Ned. That's low even for you," Ian said, cracking his fingers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No, that's not how-" the older man started to explain when they both launched themselves on him. He barely managed to keep his nose covered as they administered him the beating of a lifetime.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey watched the whole thing with a strange feeling of satisfaction.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lishman's really bad night, ended with Iggy kicking him out of the club with a warning.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"And don't you let me see your face ever again!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian stayed behind with Mickey. He handed him his shirt.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You okay?" He asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm way better than Lewd Lloyd, that's for sure." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He started buttoning his shirt. He couldn't look Ian in the eyes, why was that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Why… why were you here with Ned?” He heard Ian asking after a while.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey shrugged. "Bad judgment on my part."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Iggy chose that moment to come back to the office.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hey Mick, you good?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, man. Fucker thought he could have every android in this establishment. Serves him right," said Mickey.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"He tries to come back, he's gonna regret it," Iggy assured. "Never liked that fucking homo. No offense, Ian."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"None taken. And I don't like him either," Ian said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Who does?" Iggy scoffed. "Let me offer you whiskey. Top shelf."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian thanked him but before following him, he whispered to Mickey</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"We need to talk later."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The android nodded and Ian left the room, closing the door behind him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once alone, Mickey went to stand in front of the small mirror that was hanging on one of the walls. His hair was a mess, how the hell had Lishman managed to ruffle his hair like that? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wondered also about the failure that had been trying to have sex with him. Anton had sucked, but Lishman had disgusted him on so many levels. Ian had been the best, hands down. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Had he preferred Ian because he was younger? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But then Anton was young too.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian smelled, though. He had this comforting scent of pine tree and honey from the soap and shampoo he used and his perfume was spicy and sensual. There was really nothing displeasing in Ian. His kisses were not aggressive and slobbery like Lishman's. His hands had caressed him in such a way that had made him feel safe and cared for.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey wasn't sure he could find the same emotions with someone else. He'd better, though. He had his doubts Ian would want to become his own personal doll.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He heard knocking on his door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, come in," Mickey said. He had finished fixing himself. It was as if fucking Lewd Lloyd had never happened.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hey." Ian entered and closed the door. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Did Iggy really give you top shelf?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian chuckled. "Not sure, I'm not an expert." He walked closer to Mickey. The android noted Ian wasn't looking at him. The redhead was tense. Even his chuckle before had been forced. "So… Ned?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"As I said, an error on my part." Why did Ian have to keep going back to that? "But I wanted to see how it was with another human since Anton has been a total letdown. I should've thought better. Lewd Lloyd is so fucking cre-"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You fucked Anton?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian's tone of voice was clearly surprised. And something else. If Mickey had to bet he would've said he was angry, but there was no reason for it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah. When we fucked it was great so I tried with Anton, but," he shrugged. "I mean, what is the point of you giving me the upgrade if I don't have sex?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That's not why-" Ian's voice started loud, but he stopped. He sighed. "No. You're right. I gave you the upgrade and you can do whatever you want with it."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian raised his hand and he tentatively caressed Mickey's cheek. Mickey didn't move. "I'm glad I was able to do that for you."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The redhead gave him a little smile that didn't reach his eyes and motioned to leave the room. His words weirdly felt like a sort of goodbye and Mickey wasn't having any of it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Wait!" He called after him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian turned his head towards Mickey. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"If you want. Can we fuck again? My other experiences have been subpar at most," Mickey proposed. He didn't want to have Ian think he was begging, because he certainly wasn't. But he really wanted to spend more time with the man. "When you got time to waste."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian looked surprised, but the expression didn't last long. "What about tomorrow? I'm taking a day off since I had to work on a Sunday," Ian quickly offered. Mickey had not expected Ian to have free time on his hands so soon. He had actually detected a small lie in his words, but he wasn't able to figure out where exactly. He discovered he didn't care. "I can come pick you up around ten, we can spend some time at my place, watch a movie..."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Or simply fuck," Mickey added.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian laughed. This time the laughter didn't feel strained. "That too."</span>
</p><p>
  <span> "Okay then."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The redhead smiled. "It's a date."</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>They actually watched a movie. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The thing with VR is that technically, even an android can watch. An android can be connected to the movie and see the story. But an android brain doesn't receive the same inputs a human brain does. The stimuli the VR Bug gives a human once the small device is attached to their temple is not the same it gives an android. Because there is simply no way an artificial brain could ever believe its owner is now in an enchanted forest when they were slouched on a comfortable sofa on the nineteenth floor of Ian's condo.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was simply not possible. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Man, if humans were gullible.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Made believe was a huge weakness of theirs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And it was also endearing and that was why Mickey didn't say anything and let Ian start the VR movie which he was not going to enjoy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nowadays movies wouldn't rely too strongly on the plot, but rather on the emotions they were able to provide. Iggy and Colin would dare each other into watching horror movies, the one who would reach the highest heartbeat would lose. One time Colin had cried like a baby when a possessed nun had tried to saw him in two. Now, </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span> had been fun. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian too had decided for a fpc movie, deciding to watch it through the eyes of the protagonist, but the setting was way more soothing and probably aimed to make it for a relaxing couple of hours at home. Or boring, as Mickey had expected.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Surprisingly, he had to change his mind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Not thanks to his  recently improved sensorial experience. His brain still couldn't be fooled by a spectacle of shiny golden fairies floating around him. But Ian managed what virtual reality simply couldn't do: really be there with him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The little pixies were greeting him in the enchanted forest and, when one of them rested her tiny feet on his shoulder, Ian touched him with his fingers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That really happened. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey turned off his showing of the movie to see that Ian was touching him. Ian had the visors on and couldn't notice that Mickey wasn't paying attention to the story still on. The redhead widened his fingers and rested his hand completely on his shoulder. Mickey could feel the warmth of his whole arm around his back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn't move and inch and turned the vision on again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The protagonist was a knight and he had agreed on saving the fairies from a warlock. The plot couldn't have been more simple and far from Mickey's taste and the android was grateful because he wasn't paying any attention to it. All his focus was on Ian's fingers, Ian's warmth, Ian's scent. And after a while -a while too long in his opinion- Ian's hot breath against his neck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It happened when in the movie the knight was standing next to a fire pit. Mickey felt the kiss coming even before lips touched his skin. He kissed him on the neck once, twice. Another time. Ian's lips were moving from the base of Mickey's neck, to his jaw. His cheek. His nose, his chin. Mickey stopped the movie and he finally saw Ian intently looking at him, at his lips. Mickey licked them, rejoicing at Ian's attention to them. The second after they were kissing, Ian took control of his mouth and Mickey happily let him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What about the movie?” Mickey whispered with a smirk on his face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I really couldn't care less," Ian huffed and went back to the kiss. "Come here."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey found himself on Ian's lap and discovered how perfectly he fit there, with his knees at either side of the redhead.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were full on making out now and Ian moaned against his mouth. The sound sent shivers down his spine and Mickey only wanted more, but at the same time he couldn't understand why Ian would appreciate kissing him so much.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Why did you moan?” Mickey asked, distanciating his face from Ian's only the necessary amount to speak.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian looked confused and embarrassed by the question. "Why? Uhm, I mean… it's good?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey shook his head. "No, it's not. My saliva doesn't taste, how could I feel good to you?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well, you do have a taste."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The android scoffed. "Synthetic taste, like licking the furniture surface at your lab."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian grinned at that and jokingly grabbed a handful of Mickey's ass with a hand, making him yelp. He let the other hand rest on the side of Mickey's face. "I would never lick that. Chemical substances are spilled on it everyday. But I swear I do like the taste of your mouth, of your skin. And even then, I moaned when I kissed you because I enjoyed the whole act. It feels so good to have you in my arms, to be able to touch you." He was caressing his cheek. "And you respond so well, Mickey…"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Because you make me feel good," Mickey replied in all honesty. Ian's words were making him feel all tingly inside and he didn't know how to categorize that sensation. Lately, there were so many things that Mickey had difficulty labelling, mainly they were emotions that Ian was providing him. How could he label the burning sensation some of Ian's kisses would leave on his skin? They wouldn't really scorch his skin but they felt like it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>That too. Ian's face lighting up for a compliment shouldn't make him want to kiss him again. But it did. It so did.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah." Mickey kissed him and they started making out again, until the android decided to take things up a notch. "I wanna blow you. Can I?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian coughed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Wh- sure." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After the initial surprise, Ian seemed more than eager to let Mickey kneel between his legs and start touching his dick.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Two days ago they hadn't had time for Mickey to try giving him a blowjob, but they could now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He tentatively licked Ian's hardening cock, losing himself for a few moments on the man's scent and taste, coming more intense from his groins. Fuck, it was enough to make him lose it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Tell me if I'm doing a good job, aight?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn't want to screw it up but it seemed even just talking was enough for Ian, judging by the twitch in his cock.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Don't worry," whispered Ian. "You're doing just fine."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey felt confident enough to take Ian's into his mouth. A little portion of it at a time, basking in Ian's stifled moans. Once he had engulfed all of its length, he started bobbing his head, soon tasting precome on his tongue.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Fuck, Mick. Stop. I'm gonna come…"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey didn't. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He continued bobbing his head until Ian jolted and hot cum poured into his mouth. He knew he shouldn't ingest, he wasn't built like a Sex A, but he was so tempted. The rational part of him however won, and he spat the cum on Ian's thigh. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Sorry," he deadpanned, not really sorry at all. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian laughed. "You little shit." Then he grabbed him by the arm and dragged him back on his lap. He had a wide grin on his lips. "Now let me kiss you. And don't worry, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna taste something in your mouth this time."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fucking dork. It had the effect of making him fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>giggle</span>
  </em>
  <span> and he gladly accepted Ian's lips on his own, feeling the hint of a smile against another one.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>- I actually wanted to have colin as the barman, but I thought it was only fair to let him have the night off after he had to work the day of the BBQ lol</p><p>- Fpc movie. I decided it stands for first person character, (like fps for games). If the terminology for a vr movie that you can watch inside the protagonist head please let me know!!</p><p>If you want to chat: my tumblr <a href="https://jainsel-and-the-ships.tumblr.com">JAinsel &amp; the Ships</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Robots friendly</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Ian and Mickey go out. It doesn't go as Ian expected.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>If Ian was down to fuck, why shouldn't they have fun?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once Ian had given his availability and they decided it was okay for them to have sex on a regular basis, Mickey had lost any interest in finding someone else. He would never be able to be in a steady relationship, but they could continue until Ian would find a partner. Ian had confirmed he didn't have anyone at the moment, so no harm no foul.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They didn't have a fixed schedule, but Mickey would meet Ian enough times to satisfy his needs. The redhead would usually come pick him up on the weekends, during the day, when no one was at the club, and they would spend hours at his place. Sometimes Ian would visit the club during working hours and stay longer than he should, so they could have a quickie after closing hours. Mickey would often discourage that and send him home to sleep, because he could sense that Ian was tired after a long day at work.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Their informal agreement was good and it didn't need any change. A couple of times Ian had tried to suggest taking Mickey to places that were not his home, and Mickey would promptly turn him down. They couldn't go to bars or restaurants, what was wrong with him? Mickey didn't want to go into details with the guy about how androids friendly places were not friendly at all to </span>
  <em>
    <span>beings</span>
  </em>
  <span> the like of him. It was something he understood and accepted, but it didn't mean that it was any less humiliating. So he would only tell Ian off and go to his house to fuck. It had been a week and Ian had not come up with any more silly ideas.  Mickey thought the man had finally relented.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They could behave like normal acquaintances that had a business relationship, Mikey was satisfied enough that Ian could maintain his cool when there were other people close to them at the club. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And he better. That night Terry Milkovich had decided to grace them with his presence and there was really no need for him to get suspicious.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Not that there was a chance for him to even suspect what was really going on between Ian and his trusted android. The old man was not made for subtlety or deduction. He was deaf and blind to anything that was not money and guns and the only way for him to think that Mickey was getting it, was to find Ian balls deep in him. But always better be cautious, so the android was keeping a few feet of distance between himself and the redhead. Also from Terry, who was ranting once again about the liberal candidate to the presidency who was advocating for giving the androids some kind of rights. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That fucker is going down, I tell ya," Terry was saying, taking a gulp of the beer Colin had just handed him. "Why saying stupid shit like that. Do we wanna give a dog the right to vote too? Hell, it'd make more sense than allowing a toaster to own a house. What's next, paying a salary?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Terry scoffed, shaking his head. Colin was nodding at his father's words, but he wasn't really listening. He was used to Terry's ramblings, just like Mickey was, and he was mostly minding his own business by carefully wiping glasses, fresh out of the dishwasher. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The only one who couldn't ignore Terry, was Ian. The redhead was looking at him with a furious glare, his knuckles white from how tight he was closing his fistd. He wasn't doing anything, but only someone as self-absorbed as Terry wouldn't notice his anger. Mickey could understand Ian's rage, but he also knew it was useless. He himself didn't hate Terry, even if the man didn't hold any love for androids. He was an evil he knew and he was fine with it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That guy is going to get shanked, I tell ya," Terry continued the monologue for his eager crowd. "I mean, why does he think that having that shit as one of his strong points can work? Nobody's gonna vote for him."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian seemed on the verge of talking, but Mickey managed to get a hold of his eyes and shook his head. There was no need for Terry to hear that Ian was of course going to vote for the said guy. The redhead seemed to understand and kept his mouth shut. Good. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Unfortunately, Terry didn't seem ready to put an end to his stream of consciousness, being already on his fifth pint of beer, and was still talking. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Fucking robots, man. In my opinion, they are good for only two things." He held up one finger. "For numbers,"  He waved at Mickey's direction and he raised another finger. "And for cleaning shit up. Some people seem to think they are also good for fucking, but I wouldn't touch 'em with a stick." Nor Mickey or Colin thought of mentioning the few times he had fucked Svetlana, heavily hammered. They weren't even sure the man was aware of the fact. "I swear, if the money wasn't this good I'd throw all my robots away."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Except for Mickey," Ian chipped in, before Mickey could stop him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Terry turned his head to look at him in confusion. "What?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You wouldn't throw Mickey away, would you," Ian explained. His tone was calm, but Mickey noticed the rage underneath.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Terry scoffed, clearly not understanding Ian's words. "Why the hell would I throw Mickey away? With all the money I spent on him. You wouldn't throw away a good calculator when it works just fine."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This time it was Ian's turn to scoff, in disbelief. "That's all Mickey is to you? A calculator?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Terry slammed his pint on the counter, not strongly enough to break it, but loud enough to make Colin shudder. The guy started wiping his glass with renewed emphasis.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Fuck, Gallagher! I always forget you're a fucking droid lover! Bet you're voting for the shithead, aren't you? You like to fuck them too? That why you're always here? Like 'em do whatever you want because you can't handle a real woman?" Terry snarled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian grinned and Mickey braced himself, because there was no way that that would end well. "No, I like them feisty. I'm not some asshole who needs to pay some poor girl to fake to like their limp dick."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At those words, Terry stood up, Ian followed suit, both men ready to fight. Colin and Mickey had to act quickly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Woha! I think both of you had a drink too many," Colin said, even though Ian was still nursing his first glass of Jack Daniels. He got between the redhead and his father, still with a glass in his hands. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Terry, didn't you want to talk to me earlier?” Mickey asked the Milkovich man.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Terry might not have been in the mood to scrap, because he nodded and let Mickey drag him to his office. Not before shoving Ian's shoulder with his own while passing. Colin sighed in relief when Ian didn't respond.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The boss actually needed to talk to Mickey. Nothing surprisingly, he wanted to borrow some money off the book. It wasn't the first time Terry had made a request like that. As always, Mickey complied and he left a happy man.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey remained in the office. For once, he didn't want to see Ian. He was of course aware that the man had had the discussion with Terry out of friendship with Mickey, his intentions were good, but they had barked at each other as if Mickey hadn't been there. He was used to that kind of behaviour with his owner, not with the redhead. He hadn't liked it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After half an hour, he heard a knock. Mickey already knew who it was going to be on the other side of the door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Come on in."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian entered and closed the door behind him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hey." He nodded. Mickey noted the accusatory glance in his eyes. Fuck, if that guy could be annoying sometimes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What do you want, Gallagher?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian looked as if he was caught red handed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I can see you got something to say. Just spit it out so we can go on with our lives."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His words had the effect of making Ian show the chin, as he would always do when offended or when he was trying to be defying.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Why would you let him speak like that?" Ian asked, coming closer. He didn't even try to deny that he was mad at Mickey. Well, Mickey was mad at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey shrugged. "He's my boss, he can say whatever he wants and it's not different from the usual stuff."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"He talks about robots as if they are nothing more than electrical appliances! He thinks of you as a possession, nothing more."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I am his possession. The most expensive and valuable that he owns. Believe me, he knows my worth."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"He doesn't even understand you!” Ian shouted. "He spoke as if you weren't even there, I had to speak for you!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At that, Mickey stood up from his chair, he poked Ian right in the chest. "You spoke for me? Fuck no! You behaved exactly as Terry did. You think you were defending me, but I don't need you to fight for me. You don't know what my battles are, you won't never understand them. So please, next time Terry runs his mouth, just keep yours shut. Nobody here wants to know your opinions."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian was silent for a moment, he raised his hand to grab Mickey's. The android let him. "I was just," he stopped. "I wanted to help. I hate hearing Terry talk that way."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey squeezed the hand. It seemed it was difficult to stay mad at the redhead. "I know."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"And I'm sorry if I talked as if you weren't present. You have to know that wasn't my intention," Ian continued. Mickey nodded. Why was his job to comfort Ian, now?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yes."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I just think you're worth so much more. And not in a matter of monetary value. You're amazing and Terry's fucking blind if he cannot see that. And it's a pity that you're always stuck here, minding his business and you leave only for fucking at my place. You should go out, you should explore and it drives me crazy that I can't even take you out-"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oh. That puppy eyed motherfucker. Mickey had thought the matter of going out in public had been left behind, but it seemed Ian wasn't of the same opinion. Why couldn't Ian understand? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He would have to make him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Alright." Mickey interrupted him. The redhead looked at him in confusion. "We can go out. Saturday. You really want to, huh? So let's do this."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian smiled at him. Mickey already knew that smile wouldn't last long.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>As decided, Ian came to pick him up on Saturday, right after Mickey let Sheila in. He didn't like the ginoyd, but they had come to this kind of agreement that if he wasn't there, she should behave as usual, letting herself in, cleaning and getting the fuck out. He even gave her the keys to enter, knowing she wouldn't betray his trust. Robots were not humans, afterall.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian was dressed nicely, with tight fitted jeans, blue v-neck shirt and leather jacket. Mickey's nostrils also detected an overuse of perfume. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You look nice," he said. Ian fucking grinned. The fucking peacock.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Thanks, you too."  Mickey dismissed the compliment with a wave of his hand. He didn't own many clothes, so he hadn't bothered dressing up for the occasion. He didn't see the reason to. "Now let's go."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They got in the car and started driving away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So. I was thinking," Ian said. "Since it's cloudy today, we could go to the mall. Have a stroll and then we could go to the bar, or something."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey scoffed. "A stroll, huh. Sure."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hey, it's not that bad. I would've suggested a movie, but, uhm. You know," Ian murmured, his smiling face a little darkened.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He did know. Cinemas didn't provide bugs to robots, so it would've been kind of useless to bring Mickey to see a blank screen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, okay. The mall it is."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They arrived not even ten minutes later and Ian's smile was there again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He brought him to the second floor of the mall. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And then they were strolling, with Ian doing most of the talking. Mickey was limiting himself to nod and observe his surroundings. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It had been a while since he had visited a new place, with so many strangers walking past him. Yet that disturbing familiar sensation hadn't changed. Mickey could feel on himself the same curious eyes that would follow him wherever he was in what was usually an android free kind of environment. Not that there weren't any other robots present in a mall, but they were working. They were either outside the bathrooms waiting to clean them up, inside the groceries shop stacking the shelves, or maybe holding a child in their arms, walking behind the child's parents.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was a rare sight to see an android taking a fucking stroll side by side with a human. An android without a purpose, mindlessly chatting with a person.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At first oblivious to the stares, Ian started to become more aware after a little girl shamelessly pointed her tiny finger at Mickey's direction. Her mother swatted her arm away, but Ian had noticed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I swear usually there are more robots," Ian said. "I mean, not only janitors, but I've seen people bringing their Sex A here."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey cocked an eyebrow. "Are you trying to be supporting or offensive?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian realized his mistake and his mouth widened. "Oh, no. That's not- I don't think your my Sex A or something, I swear I didn't-"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The android chuckled. He hadn't liked Ian's words, but seeing him all flustered and understanding that Ian was just trying to help, made him want to let it go.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I know, don't worry about it, man. Let's just go to your bar, or something? I don't have much time before the shift starts."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian visibly relaxed and smiled at him. "Yeah, of course."</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>They were walking through a street of bars and restaurants and Ian never ceased to talk. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He would talk even louder and faster when they would approach a place that had the </span>
</p><p>
  <span>No robots allowed</span>
</p><p>
  <span>sign affixed at their windows or doors. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As if Mickey couldn't see them if the redhead put enough effort into the conversation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"The place is new, I wanted to try it since from the reviews they have nice music too," Ian was explaining. Mickey appreciated that Ian talked about the music and not the food or drinks. He was aware that when people would go outside for a social interaction, they would usually land somewhere where there was food involved. Not for the first time he wondered what was the deal between humans and their obsession with food. Then again, he had wondered the same thing about sex and now he had a thirst for it, so go figure.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Ah. There it is," Ian said, nodding towards a tiny bar, freshly painted and with jazz music coming from inside. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They took a step inside, but before they could look around to find a place to sit, they were stopped by a waitress.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hi there," she greeted, then with a strained smile she continued. "I'm very sorry sir, but you can't come in with a robot."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And there we go. Mickey hadn't expected to be thrown out from a place without the sign, but he couldn't say he wasn't accustomed to the grand welcome. Ian instead looked appalled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"But there's no sign outside," he said, motioning with his hand towards the door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She looked apologetic, at least. "Yes. No, we don't have one because we usually let our clients bring them in. But during the weekend we have to keep our seats only for humans. The place is very small."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So you can only have paying customers," Ian finished for her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yes," she nodded. "Robots are welcomed but they don't consume and we cannot afford that during the busy time of the week. We don't even let dogs in, so."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The bit about dogs was a bit uncalled for. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian seemed ready to bounce on her, but Mickey was quick to grab him by the jacket.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"C'mon, Ian. Let's go. Jazz sucks."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian followed him outside, but first he had to tell the waitress that they had lost a possible customer. Big mistake.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm so sorry, Mickey," Ian apologized as soon as they were outside. "I- they should have a sign outside, or something. I would never…"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He sighed, clearly confused on what to say. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey shrugged. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, let's find another place."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They found one that was open for late brunches and early happy hours, that had no sign hanging outside and that looked big enough not to leave then with an excuse like the one the waitress had given them earlier.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I don't remember if they have music here, but at least we can sit down and talk a little bit," Ian said, trying to sound encouraging. Mickey could see that the man was still mulling over what had just happened.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They went inside and nobody stopped them, the waiter came and, after one look at Mickey, he turned his attention to Ian and accompanied him towards a small table placed against a wall and a little farther from the other tables. Mickey followed them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Here it is, sir," he said, handing Ian a menu. He left them without so much of another glance at Mickey. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian smiled tentatively at the android. "I'll, uh, just order a drink."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey shrugged. "You can order whatever you want. It doesn't disturb me seeing you eating. Actually it seems humans have issues with robots watching them eat. That's why they put us in their most secluded area."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian seemed surprised. "I thought it was a good spot."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Sure. But it's so I disturb fewer clients as possible," Mickey explained. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He had decided to go outside with Ian for a reason. The redhead had to understand. And Mickey was experiencing a sort of sweet masochistic feeling by living a discomforting situation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Maybe you want to go someplace else?” Ian asked after a short awkward silence.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Nah, man. It's the same wherever we go."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Ian needed to see and desist.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The waiter came back to take Ian's order and quickly left them alone again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was clear to Mickey that Ian felt uncomfortable. The poor man had been dealing with robots forever, especially because of his work, but he had never really </span>
  <em>
    <span>dealt</span>
  </em>
  <span> with one. He fixed them up, he gave them upgrades and he had probably seen them outside, doing their job, or maybe even sitting at a restaurant, pretty dolls there to satisfy their owner's ego. They had probably seemed happy to him. And now he was at a bar with Mickey, an android who wasn't supposed to be out in the world, trying to have fun with him as if he was a fellow human. Well, he was not. And Ian had to better see that for himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian tried to start a few topics of conversation, but the place was filling up and a few customers were shamelessly looking at Mickey with curiosity. They had probably never seen a sex android dressed so shabbily.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey would've loved to shout at them to mind their own fucking business, but he wasn't stupid, he knew when to shut up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Just when Ian was coming up again with a new, useless topic to discuss, he was interrupted by the family who had decided to sit next to them for a lack of other available tables.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hi, excuse me," the father said to Ian. "We're missing one chair, could we…?" </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Ah. There it was.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey laughed mirthless as Ian was staring at the man in confusion. The android could easily read his thoughts and it would've been funny but all he wanted to do was scream. There were only two chairs at their table and he and Mickey were using them. So why was the man asking him for the chair…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian's open mouth suggested he had finally discovered the answer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The father was politely asking for the chair that was currently used by the android.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I, huh, no, I…" Ian stammered. He looked at Mickey as if he was going to tell the man off for him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey sighed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Of course," he said, standing up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The father seemed surprised that the android was talking directly to him instead of his supposed owner, but he accepted the chair and turned his back to them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Mickey, you didn't need to…" Ian trailed off, following Mickey the moment he stormed out of the bar.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey knew he shouldn't make a scene, he was aware that he should keep his poker face on and simply stand there, until Ian would decide it was time to go. But he couldn't and decided it was better for him to non breathe fresh hair outside and leave that fucking family alone. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Mickey you didn't need to give them the chair,” Ian said as soon as he reached him outside. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"But I did," Mickey said, shooking his head. "Maybe if you'd been quicker to tell them to fuck off… but you can't expect a fucking android to not give a person whatever they want. I have some choices at the club, but only because humans have given me such a possibility."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey noticed they were attracting unwanted attention, so he walked towards a back alley. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian was behind him and grabbed him by the arm to make him turn around. "I'm sorry, Mickey. I just wanted you to have a good time. I've never thought the situation would have been like this."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey shrugged. "How could you? You're human. I knew from the beginning that there was no fucking chance in hell I would've had a good time. Glad you've finally noticed."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You… wanted me to see this?" Ian looked hurt by Mickey's intentions and the android didn't know how to take it. Why would Ian have to look so shaken up? "You could've just told me. It wasn't my intention to humiliate you in any way…"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You'll never understand what humiliation is, Ian." Mickey scoffed. "And you needed to see with your own eyes or I know you, you would've never relented. Now you know and now you won't bother me anymore with this going out shit. It's not for beings like myself. It's for </span>
  <em>
    <span>human</span>
  </em>
  <span> beings and their fucking digestive systems. We," and he motioned between Ian and himself. "We're good only for fucking. In private. None of this stupid shit."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"But what if-"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No." Mickey interrupted. He didn't want to know what Ian had to say. He didn't want to hear his voice. Not a kind word. He couldn't take it. "No. </span>
  <em>
    <span>No</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Don't. Maybe in your head you have this fucked up notion that two people who are fucking need to go out and have fun but, Ian, fuck, it's two </span>
  <em>
    <span>people</span>
  </em>
  <span>. You're people. I'm not. I'll never be. There's no enhancement in the world that will ever make me human and it's all good. I'm okay with my life, with the little corner I created for myself, but then you have to come and try to make it bigger, wider. It's not for me and it's your kind that will never stop reminding me of it."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian stepped closer. He tried to hold his hand, but Mickey didn't let him, swatting his fingers away. "Mickey I'm so sorry those people treated you this way. I swear it's not everyone…"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's you too, you know? You don't need to be an asshole to remind me that I am different from you." He tried to calm himself down. He wasn't used to getting so worked up about something. How did that fucking redhead have that kind of power over him? It felt awful. "But it's not your fault. You didn't know better, but now you do. Now please leave me alone. I need to get home before they notice my absence."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn't wait for Ian to protest. He left him in the alley and walked fast towards the bus station.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Toaster is an android slur, already used in scifi</p><p> </p><p>If you want to chat: my tumblr <a href="https://jainsel-and-the-ships.tumblr.com">JAinsel &amp; the Ships</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Redefine</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Mickey is sad. It's a new feeling.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>"So… how does it feel to be sad?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey was distracted from his thoughts by Cole's voice. He glanced at the sex android with a questioning look.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Does it suck?" Cole asked. "It looks like it sucks."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"The fuck you talking about?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The blond motioned towards Mickey's office. "Just go take a look in the mirror, bitch. Your facial expression says it all. You're sad and shit. And mopey. And all in all a pain in the ass and not the good kind."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey threw the first thing he could find - a glass holder - at Cole. "You wanna fucking die? Get the fuck outta my face!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sex android scoffed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I never want to be sad!” he exclaimed and walked towards the lounge. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey looked around, but no one had noticed their word exchange. Good. He went into his office and actually took Cole's advice and looked at himself in the mirror.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He would never admit it openly, but the little shit was right. All his face indicators gave the idea that he was indeed sad.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He had never been sad, before. Or at least he had never been called on it. It wasn't an emotion that robots would generally feel. Except for the basic pain and pleasure, other emotions would need an upgrade, or a more sophisticated robot to begin with. Or time. If what Ian had told him before was true, robots could develop feelings and new emotions. Mickey found that he had experienced more emotions than the average robot, but also that the same emotions were kind of a drag. Sadness was a bitch and he had lived just fine without feeling it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>All thanks to Ian fucking Gallagher.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Not only had the fucker given him the tools to one day experience sadness, but he was also the main culprit for making him feel that way. All because they couldn't just simply fuck at his house. No, Mickey had to put himself out of his comfort zone to show the man the impossibility of his request. Then things hadn't gone as planned and, instead of obtaining what Mickey had wanted, which was going to his place to fuck, he had gotten so much worked up about the situation (another emotion he had never really felt before, thank you very much) that he had had to leave. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian hadn't tried to follow him and he hadn't shown his face at the club for a couple days now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Apparently that had made Mickey look all mopey and shit. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Man, he was so not used to this.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ever since the fight with Ian, he had regretted his decisions about having the upgrade. At least a couple times. He couldn't think as clearly as before, he was less lucid now. Was that what being human was about? Being too choked up by emotions and feelings to take an objective decision? Well, it was a bitch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luckily for him, Terry was as oblivious as ever. Colin too. Iggy instead was another matter. The barman had witnessed Mickey losing his temper with a customer over a simple act of impoliteness. The customer had bumped shoulders with Mickey by mistake, but after noticing that Mickey was an android, he hadn't apologized for his lack of attention. Mickey had violently reacted by attacking the man who, only thanks to Iggy's intervention, had managed to leave the club with just a black eye and a free voucher for a drink. After that incident, Iggy had become worried about Mickey, but had accepted the android's request of not calling Ian and he trusted him that everything was peachy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Or at least that's what he had said. Mickey could feel Iggy's eyes on him whenever he was out of his office. It was fucking annoying and forced him to behave when all he wanted to do was blown off some steam.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He had to limit himself to snarky remarks and a buttload of sarcasm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And now fucking Cole was pointing it out that he wasn't just angry, he was sad too. He had hit the jackpot of misery. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wanted to see Ian, but he wasn't sure what he wanted the guy to say to him. He needed an apology? Or he was fine with the redhead behaving as if nothing had happened?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He franky didn't know and he wasn't used to not knowing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He decided to stay in his office and mope around some more.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Closing time arrived, the sex robots went to sleep and Iggy left. Mickey closed the doors and decided he could do with a little shut eye as well. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was just going back to his office when he heard a knock at the entrance of the club. Mickey was ready to tell the late customer to fuck off, but Ian's voice came through.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's Ian. Uh, Mickey? Are you there?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wasn't expecting that dorky voice to make him chuckle. He had thought it would've made him upset or maybe that it would have not brought out any emotion at all. Instead it made him fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>chuckle</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Of course I'm here," he responded, but he still didn't open the door. "And we're closed."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah I know…" Ian said. "I wanted to talk to you without the risk of incurring into anyone."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Alright then."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Okay."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"..."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Mick, can you open the fucking door, please?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey chortled. He opened the door and let Ian in. He took a couple seconds to assess the redhead in the dim light of the entrance. He looked tired, Mickey wondered if he had trouble sleeping.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hey," Ian greeted. He had a tentative smile on his face. "Thank you for seeing me."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey shrugged. "You kinda forced me. This is not a good neighborhood to wander alone at almost three in the morning."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, but... I needed to talk. The way we left things off, I mean, I can't have that." Ian shook his head. "But work has been crazy the past few days and I was trying to come up with the right words to tell you."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The android walked back to the bar and pointed at the bottle of whiskey, raising his eyebrows. Ian nodded. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"And did you? Find the right words?” Mickey asked, pouring the liquor in a glass and handing it to Ian. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I don't know," Ian admitted. He took a sip. "But I couldn't hold any longer. I haven't slept much these days."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The android leaned back against the counter. He waited patiently for Ian to talk.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"First of all," Ian sighed. Mickey braced himself for whichever words the redhead was going to blatter. After the sigh, he was sure he was not going to like them. "I am sorry, so sorry about the other day. The planning was poor at best and I wasn't thinking… I was just happy we were going outside. Second, and I know you won't like it, but I am not going to stop trying to take you out."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey was of course ready to debate, but Ian waved a finger in front of him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No. This time it's my turn to talk," he said. "I know you think you prefer to just fuck at home, but I want more. I love…" He cleared his throat. "I love spending time with you. You were right. The date was meant for two people and you are not. But it doesn't mean we cannot have fun, it will have to be different, because you are different, but I promise I won't let you down again."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey scoffed, looking doubtful. And yet Ian seemed so sure of his words. That guy was actually set on doing more things with Mickey because he  </span>
  <em>
    <span>loved spending time with him</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian scratched his head. "And even this, you being different thing, it's for now. It's a label, but I find that it's getting archaic. Robots, humans… the lines are blurring." He pointed at his head. "I am bipolar, you know that. In the past, things would've been a hella more hectic, but I have an implant in my brain that stabilizes me and I never had to suffer from my disorder. Lip is half a point away to be legally declared a cyborg and he's not stopping there. We have human clients too. They don't come for their robots, but for themselves. They want this replaced, that enhanced… They envy robots, Mickey. They want to be like them but without having the stigma of </span>
  <em>
    <span>being</span>
  </em>
  <span> them. It can be for cosmetic reasons, but they usually just want to live longer. We'll never be immortal, life expectancy doesn't exceed one hundred thirty years old, but people live better thanks to synthetic materials. My brother has a synthetic liver, and it will soon be possible to replace almost every internal organ with synthetic ones. And if this is doable for humans it can be modified for robots as well. I mean, one day I might be able to give you a perfect digestive system, if you want."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I don't want to shit and piss." Mickey felt the need to interrupt Ian, somehow. His speech was becoming heavy and deep and he wasn't prepared for it. He had thought Ian would've just apologized, but no. It was too much.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian chuckled, shaking his head. "No, I know that." He smiled softly. "All I'm saying is, the lines </span>
  <em>
    <span>are</span>
  </em>
  <span> blurring. It's not now but one day, there will be so much confusion between what's human and what's artificial that they'll just have to accept that there's no difference. Even nowadays robots like you are deemed as somewhat inferior because of your bright eyes. But you otherwise look as a human being and, believe me, you feel human as well."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian took a pause there and Mickey raised his eyebrows. "You done here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian shook his head. Mickey groaned and he laughed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Just one more thing." The redhead's expression turned serious again. He held Mickey's hand in his and the  android let him. Mickey might not have heartbeats, but he was as nervous as any human would've been placed in his position. "I made all this big speech, only because I'm trying to make you understand that you are important to me. And it's not just the fucking, that's why I can't be satisfied only with that. I'm sorry, but I won't stop putting you out of your comfort zone, I'll just swear I'll get better at it. I want you to feel good when you are with me because that's how I feel, Mick. You make me laugh, you make me fucking sad, but overall I feel happy with you and… I guess what I need to know is if you feel happy with me as well."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian kissed the tattooed knuckles of the hand he was holding. Softly. Mickey could've retracted his hand, but he did not. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I-" he started. Mickey wasn't much for big speeches and he already had to give Ian one already. He'd prefer to avoid doing that again in such a short time. "I feel good too when I'm with you."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His words earned him a huge smile from Ian, who stepped even closer than he was.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey nodded. "Yeah, now don't make me say it again, asswipe."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian shook his head. He placed his hands at the sides of Mickey's face and lowered his down, kissing him on the lips. He started soft, but the kiss deepened almost immediately and they were soon devouring each other's mouth. Fuck, he missed that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Your office?” Ian asked, not even an inch from Mickey's face. The android nodded eagerly and now they were racing to the door. Ian opened it. Mickey closed it and was thrown against it by the redhead, who pressed himself against him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Fuck, Mick," Ian whispered against Mickey's ear. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Fuck</span>
  </em>
  <span> indeed. Mickey's dick was full hard and he could feel Ian's was the same way, just the rubbing was sending him on his way to an orgasm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Just- take your clothes off." Mickey was already getting rid of his shirt. Having any clothes between them seemed so silly now. Ian obliged Mickey's request, not that it took a big effort in complying. As soon as they were both stark naked Ian was on him once again, with Mickey using his hands against the door for balance. Every touch Ian was giving him felt like lava on his skin. What was that? His senses were more heightened than usual. They were fucking exploding. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Was it because of Ian's words? It wasn't for the lack of sex, he had gone longer between fucks with Ian. No it was something else and it was driving him crazy. Just like those freckled hands on him, like those long fingers prepping him, making him ready for-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Ah. Fuck yes," Mickey moaned. Ian bottomed out and he was kissing Mickey's neck, his ear. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The android had an elbow against the door and one hand was tugging at his swollen erection, ready to burst. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fuck, he shouldn't be like this just because Ian had told him he made him happy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And yet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian kept on thrusting into him at an accelerating rhythm, murmuring sweet nothings into his ears. What the fuck did they even mean. But they had the effect of driving him over the edge and Mickey was coming. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The redhead had still to climax and had Mickey go on his knees on the couch next to the door, holding the headrest for dear life. Ian intertwined his fingers in Mickey's. A few minutes later, he came and Mickey would lie if he didn't adore feeling the hot semen filling him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian was without breath and collapsed on the couch, grabbing Mickey and effectively trapping him underneath him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well… wow," Ian said. Because he had to say something, that dumb redhead.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey could only nod in agreement.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian didn't move, he didn't even try to check the time. Mickey was of course aware of how late it was. The man should go, but he wasn't ready to see him off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Do you want to sleep here?” Mickey whispered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian smiled. He kissed him on his temple.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, why not. I don't really feel like driving." Then he must have realized that the android didn't really need to sleep, because he looked at him with a questioning look. "You…"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey shrugged, playing it cool. Ian didn't need to know that he was actually feeling excited about the sleepover. "I'll shut down. Not really much to do."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian nodded, his eyelids now heavy. He rubbed his nose against Mickey's neck. "Alright. Wake me up when you do."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey assured him he would, but he already knew he would take a little time to himself to stare at his sleepy face in the morning instead.</span>
</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>1- I know, I know. It's a short chapter. But I couldn't attach it to the previous chapter or the next. It had to be on its own :)<br/>2-Thanks to future technology Ian was diagnosed without having to go through even the first episode<br/>3- Lip had a car accident a few years back and he lost his legs. He managed just fine with artificial prosthetics. Legally lip is very close to be legally defined as cyborg (even though people already call him that, or Half), he just misses having an artificial part in his brain<br/>It's like, you have to be more than 50% artificial, and that 50.1% has to cover a certain percentage of bones, skin, organs (+ brain)</p><p>If you want to chat: my tumblr <a href="https://jainsel-and-the-ships.tumblr.com">JAinsel &amp; the Ships</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Humanity</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Ian and Mickey have another date</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>A disheveled customer just exited the bathroom. As he was zipping up his pants he looked so damn satisfied. He must have taken the dump of his life in there. Mickey was glad he wasn't on clean duty.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Not for the first time, Mickey thought that, in a way, humans were fucking disgusting. They ate and then they had to defecate. And while people loved to say that the process was a testament of the wonderful machine that was the human body, Mickey was sure that a robot was a far better and less filthy machine. They didn't eat, therefore they didn't shit. While sometimes he found himself looking at people happily eating  and wondering how could ingesting stuff be good, Mickey didn't really have an interest in discovering what the big deal was all about.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Humans were really basic beings. They eat, they poop and they sleep. At the end of the day, they have to do these three things in order to survive. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey wasn't able to do the first two, and he didn't need to sleep, but recently he had started to switch himself off during the night, after closing time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He had a perfectly good battery inside him, he could go for another two years without closing his eyes, but after that night with Ian, sleeping one the couch for a few hours had become a habit. As an excuse, Mickey could say it was to preserve his battery, but the truth was far from it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe the truth was that when he would wake up, he would remember </span>
  <em>
    <span>exactly</span>
  </em>
  <span> the morning when he had woken up with Ian next to him. Contrary to his expectations, Ian had been already awake when Mickey's internal alarm had gone off, and he had been the one staring at a sleepy Mickey. Ian had told him he looked cute when he was sleeping, Mickey had replied that technically he didn't sleep, he shut down. Ian had laughed and had kissed him on the nose, which the android thought was a stupid gesture, when his mouth was like, right underneath it, but also that the kiss was kind of nice and warm. Now waking up everyday to that memory was kind of nice and warm as well.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian was eager to repeat their night together, but Mickey wasn't completely at ease having the redhead sleeping over at the club. It was risky. He was already taking enough chances when he'd go out with Ian during the day.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But what could he do? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He had seen enough movies to know that this addiction to Ian wasn't good for him, or for the redhead. He wasn't human, they couldn't be in a relationship just for the fun of it. It was fucking dangerous, not to mention, basically illegal. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Owning a robot? Legal. Fucking a robot? Absolutely legal. Being together with a robot? Borderline illegal.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He didn't want Ian to be sent to a rehabilitation camp, or even worse, a psychiatric facility. He also didn't care for being disassembled.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But, again, the fuck could he do? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian was under his synthetic skin. Whereas before he had lived his life content with just doing math and tolerating handsy customers, now he was living in anticipation of something beyond his job. For freckled hands caressing his body, for thin lips kissing him and, most of all, for dorky jokes that never really managed to make him laugh, but that always did put a smile on his face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They would have to keep being careful. That was all.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey could deal with Ian's absence by using his perfect memory, and when it was not enough, he would have to endure until the weekend, their usual time to be together. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Today was Friday and after closing time, Ian had planned to go out with him. Mickey hoped it would not become a dreadful date like the first one, but he had decided to give Ian a second chance. He knew Ian was trying his hardest and even if it ended up being another failure, he probably would not have the heart (he also didn't have it, anatomically speaking) to complain to him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then all hell broke loose. A gurgling noise, followed up by a small explosion came from the bathroom, alerting everyone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What the fuck!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What is this smell?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The customers and Iggy in tow came to see what was the source of that abrupt sound and consequent foul odour.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Man, it stinks," Iggy commented, opening the bathroom door and coughing. "Shit!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Shit, indeed. As soon as the man opened the door, water came out and the smell was even stronger. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It wasn't the first time it happened. Considering how far in technology and science humanity had accomplished, the sewage system in their area was terrible and had gone even worse in the last decades.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Still, it didn't mean that Mickey couldn't have some fun. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Hey!" He called out the man that had last come out from the bathroom. "What the fuck did you eat for dinner, man?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The customer turned purple from embarrassment and, after muttering something that sounded more or less like "it wasn't me", left the establishment in a hurry.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Iggy approached him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You calling Stavros?” he asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey nodded. "Yeah. We gotta close for the night, though. Can you send everyone home? They say I'm rude."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Iggy snorted. "You are. Sure, man. That's actually a godsend. I didn't feel like working tonight."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"When do you ever feel like working?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The Milkovich man shoved him jokingly against his shoulder. "Smartass. You know what. I'm gonna get wasted with Colin and the others. Bye."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Iggy didn't ask him to join them. Mickey didn't feel disappointed by it. Iggy was aware of Mickey's limits and he would never try to take him to one of the pubs that he and the others liked to frequent. It was already stressful enough when he would invite him to their barbeques or to hang out at his and Colin's apartment. Iggy wasn't Ian, who constantly pushed Mickey's boundaries. The android wondered if he had any left when it came to the redhead. He surprisingly discovered he didn't really care.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He called Stavros requiring draining services and, even though they could come in the morning, he told them they could come early afternoon. Then he sent a quick message to Ian to inform him that they could meet earlier if he wanted since they would be closing soon. Ian replied to him immediately, telling him he was on his way.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Every client was out, every robot was starting their sleepy time in the back and Iggy waved Mickey goodbye. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was time to get changed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian's smile doubled when he saw Mickey in his new outfit. The redhead had bought him a new deep blue button down shirt and had asked him to wear it for their night out. Mickey had been reluctant at first, since he wasn't used to receiving gifts, but Ian's expression made Mickey happy with his decision of putting it on.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You look nice, Mick," Ian said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I do, huh."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian nodded and kissed him sweetly on the right cheek. "I knew it would look good on you."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian had spoken softly and right against his ear. Mickey was half tempted to drag Ian back to his office for a quickie first.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"C'mon, let's go." Ian didn't give him the time to yell to temptation and put an arm around his shoulders, accompanying him to the car.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You know, it's actually perfect this way. The place I'm taking you is still open until four am, but they told me it peaks up around ten. So we're good," Ian said once they were inside. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey put the seatbelt on. "Yeah, about that. Where are we going?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian gave him a mischievous grin. "It's a surprise."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Fucking hate surprises."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You'll like this one. I think. I mean, I hope…" Ian went from confident to doubtful. That man had problems keeping his cool ever since he was a kid. "Don't kill me if you won't?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey scoffed. "Can't promise you that."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian must have decided Mickey was joking, because he was back again in a happy mood and he was chatty for the whole length of the drive, around twenty minutes or so (21 minutes and 45 seconds).</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They parked in an area that Mickey didn't know. Closer to the docks than the Milkovich's nightclub, it was chillier outside the car. Ian brought him in front of a building with exposed bricks and he looked around. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It should be here… oh, there it is," Ian said, pointing towards an electric blue basement door. He looked at Mickey. "Ready?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The android shrugged. They were in a shady part of town (not the shadiest, though, their club was in the shadiest part of town), and they were going in what looked like a basement. Ian seemed excited, though. "No, but I trust you."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He wasn't expecting Ian's face to break into a huge grin, but it did. Mickey felt he had done a good thing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Thank you, Mick."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian descended the stairs to the door and knocked. An android opened the door. Big - massive, really- and bald, the embodiment of the perfect bouncer. He barely looked at the man and instead focused his attention on Mickey.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Your human good?” he asked him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That caught the brunet by surprise. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"My what?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The bouncer nodded at Ian's direction. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He better behave," he said, and moved to the side to let him and Ian pass.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The foyer was small like a cubicle, bare but for the heavy electric blue velvet drapes hanging on all four walls. They could hear music, muffled by the walls. Before opening the massive black door underneath one of the drapes, Mickey stopped.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Where the fuck have you brought me?” he asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian smiled at him in a way that was supposed to be reassuring, but was really nothing of the sort. Mickey could notice that the man wasn't really sure himself, but was trying to appear confident.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s going to be fun.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>MIckey had his doubts, and the few information he gathered from their encounter with the bouncer, were giving him suspicions of where they were. He hoped he was wrong.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sure thing, Ian.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He opened the door and the music became louder and what looked like a club revealed in front of them. The design of the place reminded one of those ancient speakeasies that were all the underground rage more than two hundreds years ago. The only difference being that in those years, robots were only science fiction, tin cans that beeped, whereas the club Ian and Mickey had stepped into, had gynoids and androids as apparent customers, sitting at tables together or with humans.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hello there, I’m Claire. Welcome to Cellar Door.” A pretty looking gynoid came to greet them, or actually, she came to greet just him, judging from the fact that she had barely glanced at Ian. “First time?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Huh. Yes.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey couldn’t stop staring at a table of three where two androids were talking with each other, completely ignoring the human sitting next to them. The man seemed abandoned to himself, but Mickey noticed he was slightly smiling.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The gynoid nodded. “Cellar Door is a safe place for all robots. Here you can be who you are. You can relax and meet others of your kind. We accept humans as long as they are accompanied and they keep their heads down. Humans have no authority here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She showed Mickey to a small table at the center of the club and left him with a cocktail menu. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“If your human is thirsty, you can order for him,” she supplied at Mickey’s cocked eyebrow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Claire left, allowing Mickey to now see the table next to them and what he saw put an end to his suspicions. A leather clad gynoid was calmly sitting on the chair, stirring a cocktail she was not going to drink. Her companion, a human, was instead crouching underneath the table, happily posing as her footrest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey turned to Ian, who was looking at the same scene with visibly embarrassment on his face. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You brought me to a fucking robot fetish club,” he said with accusatory tone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey had heard of those places before. Iggy had spoken of them once, and he knew that a couple of their customers frequented them as well. Mickey remembered one of them had tried to convince him to come with him to his favorite fetish club. That sly little fucker would love being insulted by him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But that was the point. Robot fetish clubs were just that. Clubs for humans who fetishised robots. These places were not meant for beings like Mickey, their scope was the same as Terry’s club was: to please humans. In this fucked up case, said humans loved to be ignored or used by the robots they owned and they were willing to pay for the thrill of doing that in a sort of semi public setting. Mickey was willing to bet all the robots faking to have the upper hand were dolls who thought it was all a sexy game to play.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes?” Ian tried to give him a little smile of encouragement. “I know that it seems bad, but…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey sighed. “But, what? You thought it would make me happy to be surrounded by dolls still doing their owners bidding? Fucked up as it is, the dynamic doesn’t change.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian’s smile disappeared. He nodded. “I know. But I wanted to be able to be with you outside, without people judging us for being together,” he said. Mickey knew that Ian was serious and that he was suffering from keeping their relationship a secret. It was selfish of him to bring Mickey to this club, but he could understand that he had no bad intentions. “And I did my research. A client of mine told me about this place and he swears it is not just a fetish club. It is supposed to be a safe place for robots, for real.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey didn’t believe it for a second, not when he had just noticed an android dragging his human around with a leash and his said human had fake contact lenses that made his eyes shine like a robot’s. That was fucked up. Those robots did not look free to Mickey at all. Or safe, for that matter. They played the game to fulfill their owner's fantasy and they better not screw that up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I give you an hour and then we go home,” Mickey replied. Ian seemed ready to argue, but instead he only nodded.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright.” Then he smiled. It was forced, but it was clear that the redhead was trying to put Mickey at ease. The brunet could appreciate that. “But if it's not too much trouble, could you order me a whiskey?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey exhaled through his nose, amused. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You dick.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He called after their waitress. Claire arrived a few seconds later and took his order.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You have come at the right time," she added "On Fridays we always have a live show. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And Mickey was sure we would not. But he simply nodded and waited for her to fuck off.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Maybe it will be fun, Mick,” Ian said, trying to sound encouraging. Mickey raised an eyebrow. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Maybe for you. I swear if it’s another human wearing contact lenses Imma lose my shit." After witnessing the leash guy, he had noticed that at least another three human customers were wearing bright contacts. They were blatantly fake, especially to an android's eye, but Mickey found them mostly offensive.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They brought Ian his drink and then the room darkened. The music changed and took a faster and more aggressive beat. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Here we go," Mickey said with a heavily sarcastic tone. Ian playfully nudged his shoulder. Mickey scoffed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Plays of light started in the darkness of the stage. Blue, purple, green and yellow circles were moving to the rhythm of music and then Mickey caught them. Two dimmer lights, small and blue. A set of eyes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"That's a robot," Mickey said, voice full of surprise. "A robot is dancing."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Artificial beings like him didn't dance. They didn't sing or paint. They weren't created for creating. For expressing emotions through art, mainly because they shouldn't have any. At Terry's club, the dolls didn't dance, they simply moved as seductively as they knew how on poles and men's lap. Mickey didn't think it was possible for a robot to move like that. Yet he had been proven wrong many times lately and he had been glad of it each time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As the stage became a little brighter, Mickey could discern a female figure bouncing glowing hula hoops on her waist and arms. It was mesmerising. Not because the show was incredibly well done, but rather because she had rhythm and she seemed to be enjoying what she was doing. When the music ended and the lights came back, the gynoid was smiling and she bowed to the applauses. Mickey found himself applauding as well and he had never, in all his life, done that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Did you like it?” He heard Ian asking. The redhead was looking at him with fond eyes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey shrugged.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Wasn't bad." He downplayed it. But he knew Ian wasn't buying it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You liked it," he said with a grin. Mickey could only roll his eyes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He watched the gynoid collecting her hoopes. She had multicolored hair, with streaks of blue and purple and yellow and bangs that almost covered her bright blue eyes, a color not too dissimilar from Mickey's.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh shit," Ian muttered under his breath. Mickey turned to see that Ian was looking at a man standing at the bar who was waving at him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Who's that?” Mickey asked. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian forced a smile to the man. "The client who told me about this place. I thought he said he only came on Sundays, what the fuck. Fuck, Mick. I think he only wants to chat, but I need to go greet him. You good for five minutes?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian had such an apologetic look on his face that Mickey couldn't say anything but</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Course."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Thank you." Ian patted him on the shoulder and left, schooling a perfect business smile on his lips.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So Mickey was left alone, without much to do since the show had ended and he couldn't drink Ian's cocktail.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He had resigned himself to just wait around like some bitch, when someone abruptly sat on Ian’s chair. Mickey opened his mouth to tell the impolite and probable fetishist asshole to fuck off, when he was met with bright purple eyes and a wicked smile that Mickey was familiar with. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sandy?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She nodded. Mickey’s eyes dropped to her lips and nose piercings, unusual features for a cleaning robot. For a doll, maybe, but even that was at their owner’s discretion. “Mickey, I’m surprised to see you here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I thought you were…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Dead? Reprogrammed? Disassembled?” she supplied, watching Mickey with an amused smile. “Nah. Alive and well. I just don’t work as a cleaning maid anymore, so I’m sorry I can’t be your pal at the club. But then again, I see you have well replaced my immane charme with something better looking, huh.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>She nodded towards Ian, still talking with his client. The redhead had noticed Mickey talking to the gynoid and raised an eyebrow, but Mickey shrugged, telling him without words that everything was okay. Or so he hoped. The gynid in front of him was a wild card. She shouldn’t be there, and even if they had kept her body and only reprogrammed her, she should have a different personality with a new name to accompany it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ian is my… doctor,” he said unconvincingly. Sandy laughed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sexy doctor. Not my type, but he’s cute, I’ll give you that. I’m glad you found someone to keep you company, even if he’s a human,” she said, starting to play with Ian’s glass. “But sometimes you gotta trust them, I guess.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sandy seemed so at ease, but how could it be? She said she wasn’t a cleaning robot any longer, but how was that possible without having been reprogrammed? She couldn’t just decide not to be a cleaning robot, could she? It wasn’t something that a robot was allowed to do.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He wanted to ask her what the hell was going on with her, but they were interrupted by the dancer from before, who went to sit on Sandy’s lap. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Here you are,” the other gynoid said. Mickey noticed they had matching nose piercings. What the fuck was going on?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sandy smiled at her and then she waved at Mickey. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sorry Mands, I’ve just ran into an old acquaintance of mine. Mandy, Mickey, he works at one of the places I used to clean at. Mickey, this is Mandy, my partner in crime.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In a very human-like manner, the dancer held out her hand to shake. Mickey wasn’t used to that social gesture and he ended up giving her a very limp hand. She didn’t comment on it, but rather smiled at him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So, Mick. What do you do?” she asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Why was she still talking to him? Mickey wasn’t a chatty person, but he replied anyway. This was an unusual situation, him having a casual conversation with other two robots at a club. As weird as it was, it wasn’t completely uncomfortable. “I am an accountant.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“Oh, cool. And do you like your job?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do I…” What kind of question was that? “It’s my job.” That was the reason he had been created for in the first place.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She shrugged. “I had a job, I was a doll. But I didn’t like it. And now I don’t do it anymore.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Just like Sandy, she talked about such a taboo argument with ease. As if it was normal.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How’s that possible?” Mickey asked. He saw Ian coming back, but a look from Mickey made the redhead stay away. The android needed to know what the fuck was going on with these two.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mandy seemed ready to talk, but Sandy stopped her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You liking this place, Mickey?” she asked him instead.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey shook his head. “Don’t change the subject.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know it looks like the usual fetish club, but it’s actually a pretty safe space for robots. Here we can express ourselves, in moderation. Mandy and I know that when we are here, we don’t need to watch our backs.” She smirked. “Again, that too in moderation.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The owner of this club’s better half is an android, so she really cares about us, it’s not just for money,” Mandy added. “She lets me and a few others dance and shit. I’m not the best, not even close, but it’s so liberating. My last owner was a dance choreographer and-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sandy interrupted her with a light tap on her arm. Mandy rolled her eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Anyway, have you ever tried Humanity?” she asked instead of continuing her story. Mickey was starting to get really pissed at the two gynoids.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What…?” What kind of stupid question was that?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Humanity, the drug,” Sandy explained.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mandy picked a small metallic disc from her shorts pocket. “You attach this to your palate and it short circuits your brain for a good half an hour. You won’t be able to remember things correctly or keep the track of time… Basically it makes you as stupid as a human. It’s a blast.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The gynoids laughed and Mandy gave Mickey Humanity.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Whenever you feel like being a little stupid,” she said with a wink.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey grabbed her forearm when she retracted her hand. “I don’t fucking care about this shit. You and your friend here, you gotta tell me what the fuck happened to you too. You had a job and now you don’t? It’s… what the fuck, Sandy. They told me you got fired, which means you shouldn’t exist right now.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mandy wiggled her arm away. She didn’t seem angry at him, and instead was looking at him with what seemed like pity.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Us robots were created to satisfy human needs, but we don’t need to do that anymore,” Sandy said. She made Mandy stand up and so did she a few moments later. “It was nice seeing you Mick. Maybe we can meet again. We come here usually on Fridays.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They didn’t wait for Mickey to respond and left him at the table with the small disc still in his hand.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Was that the dancer from the show?" Ian asked after a minute, plopping down on the chair. Mickey nodded.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yeah…"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"How do you, huh, know them?” Ian scratched his jaw, sign that he was trying to appear nonchalant when he was dying to know.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"The other gynoid is a… an old acquaintance of mine," Mickey replied, using the same wording as Sandy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian perked up at the information and he clearly wished Mickey to elaborate, but the android wasn't going to give him that. He had yet to understand what the fuck had happened himself. Sandy and Mandy didn't work their assigned job, the jobs that defined their very existence. They were rogue robots and until he had met them he hadn't even known it was a possibility. What a clusterfuck.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He decided to distract Ian with the drug.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Look," he said, handing him the small disc. "It's for robots. Gotta attach it to the palate and it scrambles my circuits for a while. It'd incapacitate like, my memory or my ability with calculating. You know how's it called? Humanity."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian legit laughed at that. Stupid dork that he was. He took the disc from Mickey's hand and looked at it. "The gynoids gave this to you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey nodded.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Want me to use it? It would make me less… robotic?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian shook his head, giving him the disc back. "Why would I want that? You're perfect as you are."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That did not make Mickey blush. It did not. Or maybe it did, like, definitely did and the android tried to downplay it by grumbling a weak "Fuck you, man."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The man grabbed his hand, intertwining his fingers in Mickey's. The android's head snapped left and right, scanning the room to see if anyone was looking at them with disapproving eyes, but no one seemed to care. The man at the table next to them was too preoccupied enjoying having a stiletto pushed against his back.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian's hand on his cheek brought Mickey's attention back to the redhead. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You're amazing, Mick. Just like you are."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Their faces were already pretty close, but Ian closed the distance and kissed him softly on the lips. Mickey let himself feel it, feel the lips on his and then the tongue, entering his mouth. It felt different, kissing Ian in the middle of a club, in an almost public space, albeit exclusive.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What do you say, if you and I tried the bathroom?” Ian asked in a suggestive way. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That Mickey got totally wrong. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Man, if you gotta pee go. You know that I-"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Sex, Mick. I am suggesting we go have sex in the bathrooms stalls," Ian explained with a roll of his eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oh. That.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That he could be on board with.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"So, was this a successful date, or was this a successful date?” Ian asked in the car as he was parking in front of the Milkovich club.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was late and Mickey had already in mind of asking Ian to sleep on his couch. He wanted to have another memory of them waking up together in his office.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You're not leaving me with many options," he said, but he couldn't stop grinning. Their date didn't start with a bang, but it ended pretty great (and with a bang, literally). Mickey's thoughts were still not at ease after his encounter with Sandy, but he liked the place and the security it gave them. He had been able to have a date with Ian without worrying for their safety, without being humiliated. He wouldn't mind doing that again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Don't worry, Mick. I'll take you there whenever you want," Ian replied, almost as if he had read his thoughts.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mickey nodded and exited the car. Ian did the same, following the android to the door.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Wanna come inside? We could sleep on the couch again," Mickey offered. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Sure. Your couch is not half bad."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His couch was shit, but he was glad Ian appreciated it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"</span>
  <em>
    <span>I'm</span>
  </em>
  <span> not half bad. You slept on top of me the whole night last time."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ian grinned. "You're very comfortable."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He kissed Mickey on the temple once they were inside. Mickey reciprocated by kissing him on the mouth. "Wanna do a second round before bed?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"If you're up to it…" Ian muttered, capturing Mickey's lips for another kiss and pushing him against the wall.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then the light went on and a very surprised man was watching them, his mouth aghast.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What the fuck?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Iggy asked.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>- Love relationship human/robot is borderline illegal<br/>In the past it was usually frowned upon. Like nowadays it's weird when you hear about people marrying the weirdest things (https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/eight-strangest-things-people-married-13901720.amp)<br/>But after a bad divorce caused by the husband leaving the wife for a gynoid (owned by the wife by the way), the wife sued him for emotional damage. Since the sum requested was incredibly high, the man declared mental insanity, settling with the wife. He was sent to a psychiatric facility . That sentence is now the norm for humans caught in those kind of forbidden relationships</p>
<p>- for the Mandy dancing scene, I didn't envisioned it with a specific music in my head. I was listening to a mix of techno house while running (need to shed some weight after the lockdown lol) and, yeah.</p>
<p>- When sandy introduced Mandy to Mickey I felt very much like Bridget Jones introducing Darcy to her colleague lol</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. In the future</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>In which Iggy's not too happy about the situation</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Short chapter.... And brace yourself for 2 chapters of angst</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>"What the fuck?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Iggy asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey automatically shoved Ian away to put some distance between them. As if that could help. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's-" Ian started, but Iggy interrupted him, a murderous glare in his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Don't you try saying that it's not what it looks like, because from here it looked like you were trying to suck Mickey's face with your mouth and I don't think it's a normal AI doctor procedure."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Just calm down," Mickey said. He could see how agitated Iggy was and that wasn't good for the situation. The Milkovich man shook his head, but his attention was on Ian.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"The fuck did you do to him? Huh?” Iggy walked closer to the redhead. “All of this time, when we brought him to you for his upgrades, what were you doing? Were you turning him into a doll? That’s what you’ve been doing? To get your kicks? You have a fucking lab full of robots at your disposal, but you had to have our Mickey.” The man was on Ian now, pushing the redhead against the wall. “Fuck, Ian, we trusted you! </span>
  <em>
    <span>I </span>
  </em>
  <span>trusted you! I was worried about Mickey and I asked you to keep an eye on him, but it was your fault, all along!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Iggy moved to take a swing at Ian, who seemed resigned to just stay still and take it, but Mickey was having none of it. He stopped Iggy’s arm midway and put himself between him and Ian.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Enough!” he shouted. Mickey pocked Iggy’s chest with a finger.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m fucking here. If you have to say something, you can say it to me too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Iggy looked at Mickey, and for a second the android really thought he was going to calm down, but instead he went for punching Ian again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you his new owner now? Why is he defending you?” Iggy growled. Mickey managed to keep him away from the redhead, but the man was trying to get out of his hold.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Iggy, I can assure you that I’m not Mickey’s owner, I never made him do anything that he didn’t want,” Ian said. He was still against the wall, keeping his distance from the madman. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, yeah? Did you think he wanted you to-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I said enough!” Mickey shouted again, louder this time. He pushed Iggy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gallagher never made me do anything, that’s true. If you saw us kissing it’s because we </span>
  <em>
    <span>both </span>
  </em>
  <span>wanted it. I’m not a fucking doll and fuck you for thinking that!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mickey, this is not you-” Iggy started, but Mickey was having none of it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s me now,” he interrupted. “And yes, I have to thank Ian for it, but not the way you think. Now, let the man go so we can talk. You and me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But Mick…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Please, Iggy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Iggy thought about it, his eyes moving from Mickey to Ian back and forth. In the end, he nodded. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But it’s not over,” he threatened Ian.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not going,” the redhead said instead. The android could see that Ian was worried about his safety, just as he was worried about Ian’s own.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just go, Ian. I’ll talk to you in the morning, okay?” He tried to muster a small smile of encouragement and it was clear it didn’t manage to put Ian at ease, but the man nodded anyway.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not gonna sleep tonight… call me as soon as you can, alright?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure thing. Now go.”</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>Ian still didn’t seem convinced, not moving.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just fucking go, I’m not gonna do anything to Mickey, you fuckhead,” Iggy said with a groan. Then he gave them his shoulders, walking towards the bar.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey didn’t dare kiss Ian, and only squeezed his arm. “It’s okay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The redhead sighed, seemingly defeated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright.”</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>With one last worried look, he went for the door, leaving Mickey to talk with the Milkovich man.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The android found him at the bar, pouring himself a glass and downing the amber liquid down his throat. He went to sit on one of the barstools.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They didn’t talk for a couple of minutes, until Mickey decided to break the silence.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What Ian and I have… It makes me free,” he said. He wasn’t lying. If he and Iggy had to have the talk, it was good to say the truth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Iggy raised his eyes on Mickey but he didn’t say anything. He was letting him speak.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You are right, Ian did something to me, but not what you might think. He made me able to feel things. To see the world I’m living in with a different set of eyes. He gave me the tools to better myself in ways that I would have never thought possible. And I love it. Ian makes me laugh and yes, sex is a big part of our relationship-” At that, Iggy opened his mouth to talk, but Mickey continued. “But it’s not just that. You as a human maybe won’t ever be able to understand, but this, what Ian gave me, made possible for me to see a life beyond here, have more layers. I’m not just an accountant. I am more.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey was surprised by his own words. He had thought of Mandy and Sandy as anomalies for refusing their original jobs because those were their identities, but his way of thinking wasn’t that dissimilar from theirs. He was an accountant, true, but he wasn’t just that. There was more to his identity than being a calculator.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You are more,” Iggy repeated. He sighed. “Mick, what the fuck happened to you? I thought you were happy working here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Happiness. A weird concept for a robot. A robot didn’t need to be happy, he had to be satisfied with his work. Sometimes they would mistake satisfaction for happiness. Mickey had done that, in the past, before he had experienced what real happiness could mean.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Working here has been my life,” Mickey tried to explain, trying not to offend Iggy. But that art was still a mystery to the android, who had never had the need for it in the past. “I can’t complain, you’ve all been good to me, other robots are not as lucky as I am. Yet Ian makes me happy. And not just him, but he plays a big role in it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Iggy shook his head. “Mickey, I don’t know what to say…”</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“Just say that you are going to turn a blind eye on this,” Mickey proposed. He knew it was a long shot but he had not expected the man to look at him so shocked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mick, I can’t do that,” he said. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>This</span>
  </em>
  <span>, has to stop.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve already told you that Ian didn’t make me his doll. That’s not-” Mickey began, but Iggy waived his hands in front of him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s not what I mean. Even though I’m not entirely convinced… That is not the problem. But you have to see it. You and Ian… It can’t go on.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Mickey knew. On a level, a more pragmatic and analytic level, he knew where Iggy was going with this. On another, his newly born, feelings crazed level, Mickey only wanted to fight Iggy’s opposition.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why?” He asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because,” Iggy said. “You said it yourself. You’re lucky.  And you’ve been fucking lucky tonight that I was the one here. Do you even know why I’m here? I was out, drinking with the others when Tony Markovich calls me that there might be a B&amp;E at the club, since the lights were on and one of the windows was broken. I tell him that Mickey will handle it, but twenty minutes later Tony calls me again because the lights are still on. I come here and there’s a drunk customer who couldn’t take a fucking hint that we were closed for the night, but no sign of you. I get worried, but I decide to wait for you before doing anything stupid. Now, what do you think was going to happen if Pops didn’t find you? Tony could’ve called him, but by chance he called </span>
  <em>
    <span>me, twice</span>
  </em>
  <span>. You do realize how fucking lucky have you been, Mickey? Pops would’ve killed Ian and disassembled you himself… Fuck, Mick, I thought you were supposed to be the intelligent one!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fuck, Mickey thought that too.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yet he knew Iggy was right. Terry might make his profit offering sex with robots, but he despised it on a core level. A homosexual relationship between his trusted robot accountant and Ian? That would not fly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And we are talking about you. With a doll, he’d probably make Ian pay your weight in gold, but you... '' Iggy shook his head. “I don’t understand what is going on between you two, Mick. But I know that whatever it is right now it’s dangerous. Maybe in the future, if… when robots will gain rights… But that’s then. Now I’m saying this for your sake: you gotta stop.” He came closer and lightly touched Mickey on the shoulder. The man was really worried about him, it was evident in his expression. “We don’t want to lose you.”</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey didn’t want to lose Ian. He had just found him, yet he had to give him up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>If he were human, maybe he would’ve tried to fight for them a little more, put up a fight he knew he was going to lose anyway. Maybe. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But he was a robot and sometimes, listening to his analytical self, was the best way. Clinical thoughts, clinical solutions to problems. He could do this.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He called Ian.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man picked up immediately, sign that he wasn’t sleeping, like he had promised.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mickey, are you okay?” The first thing he asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hearing Ian’s voice was like a balm for his ears. Yet he knew he was going to deliver him some bad news. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. Iggy’s cool, you know that.”</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>He heard Ian scoff. “I thought he was going to murder me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We broke his trust. And he doesn’t really understand… us.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If we were both human there would be nothing to understand,” Ian muttered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And that was the whole point and the real issue at hand. Mickey was not human. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It doesn’t matter.” It did. But, as Iggy had said, it wasn’t the right time. Maybe in the future. Mickey needed to get a grip and just tell Ian. “Iggy and I talked, and he made some valid points. Ian, I think-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t say it.” Ian interrupted. “Whatever you were going to say, don’t. Next weekend I am coming to pick you up and we are going to chill at my place. It will be like usual.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian. His plan seemed perfect. Mickey could already envision a nice morning fucking on Ian’s bed, then watching Ian eating and making fun of him because of his weird eating habits. “It can’t be. One Milkovich already knows. How long before the whole family does?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mick, you said it yourself, Iggy’s cool. He won’t betray you. And we will take a little step at a time and see how it goes. Terry’s like, never there. I’m sure we can keep going as long as we want to.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian tried to sound convincing and Mickey would like nothing more than to drink up his words and go along with it. Yet he knew it was impossible.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And then, what? Ian, I am a robot. Terry or not, That’s what I am. It’s never gonna change and maybe, in the future, maybe it will be seen differently than now, but that’s not the current situation. This scare, it was good. It opened my eyes as it should open yours. It’s not the time for us. You are young, I am too for robot standards, we could try again in a few years, if things have changed.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“... Mick.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t do this,” Ian said. His voice pleading. Mickey would like nothing more than to please him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t. Ian… It is over.”</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian had complained, he had argued. But Mickey had been adamant. He had told him to not come to the club anymore, at least for the time being.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was better for everyone. Ian wouldn't be killed, he would not be disassembled or reprogrammed. Everything could stay the same.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was okay.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then why did it feel so wrong?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Iggy had already left the club and Mickey was alone in his office, laying on the couch. He didn’t even know why, he had just thought it would’ve been better than to stand up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He searched in his pocket for a small, metallic disc.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey stared at Humanity for a few minutes, then he took a decision.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe being short circuited for a little time could take his mind off his decision. It didn’t hurt to try.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He positioned the disc underneath his palate and attached it to it. He felt a sudden jolt of electricity running through his body. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And then nothing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Like, really nothing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Time was gone, Mickey wasn’t aware of the exact hour anymore. He tried to do a few calculations in his mind but he couldn’t grasp at the bigger number. The room around him was just a room, not a series of various material components. There was a desk, a small mirror, an empty bookshelf. A couch. Himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And his thoughts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Whereas before he could distract himself with the peace numbers could provide him, now nothing was there to prevent him to think.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His memory wasn’t as good as usual, but he could see Ian’s face clearly in his mind and he could imagine how destroyed its expression had had to be when Mickey had ended things with him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He missed him already. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey didn’t possess tear glands, it was physically impossible for him to cry. Yet no one, human or artificial, could ever say that the android curled up on the couch was not in visible pain.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I think at his point of his growth, Mickey doesn't reason anymore completely 'machine'. His choices are biased even when he thinks he is thinking clearly</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Eyes closed - Eyes open</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Ian comes back to the club</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The following day, Ian didn’t show. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was what Mickey wanted, to keep him safe. Yet he couldn’t help himself, turning his head towards the entrance of the club every time he heard a door open and then feeling disappointed every time a man who was not Ian came in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The day after that, Ian still didn’t show up. Iggy did, though. The night before, Colin was on bartender’s duty and time had been more bearable with someone who didn’t know what was going on. Iggy, instead, was looking at him with a pitiful stare and at some point Mickey simply couldn’t take it anymore. He came up to the man and sighed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Iggy gave him a small smile, the kind that a kid reserved for their parents after they had done a bad deed. It wasn’t cute at all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Man, I’m sorry for, you know, last night. I was fucking harsh, but you just got me surprised there,” he apologized.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey shrugged. There was no point in being angry at the man. “That’s okay. You were right and I broke things off with Ian.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Iggy looked surprised. “Really? That’s a relief!” Then he seemed to think his words over. “I mean. I know it must suck, but it was the only reasonable thing to do. And you are the most reasonable person I know.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not a person,” Mickey remembered him. “Which is also the whole fucking problem.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“Sorry Mick. When I left you I started thinking about it and if what was going on between you two was like a human relationship… I mean, it’s fucked up. Wait! I mean, that it’s fucked up that you can’t be together. I want you to know that if it was up to me you could bang as much as you wanted. Well, after I had a talk with Ian…” Noticing he was digressing, Iggy came to the point. “My point is, it’s not up to me and you made the right decision.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Iggy nodded at his father, who was happily drowning in alcohol. Apparently he was celebrating a good poker win and had decided to raid all the good and bad liquors of the club.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Look at him. Not even on this happy occurrence he would hesitate to kill you both if he discovers you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The android nodded. Of course he knew. Mickey was Terry’s prized property. That man would rather destroy him instead of letting him go.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s just… It hurts,” Mickey explained.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Iggy looked at him, curious. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How? You don’t have a heart.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey glared at him. “Doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“Right,” Iggy convened. “You know what, Mick? This weekend come to my place. Colin is out and we can talk. You could educate me a little on this new you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Iggy was really trying, Mickey could see that. Maybe he could do him some good to spend time with him. “Sure. And lesson number one: it’s not a new me. It’s always been me. I’m just…. More.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>The man grinned. “See? Already teaching me. Looking forward to next weekend then.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>A customer interrupted them by asking Iggy two Martinis. Mickey took advantage of the situation to sneak out and close himself in his office. He had to dodge Cole and his stupid questons like, what had crowled up his ass lately, and he was finally alone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He sat on the couch and waited. Precisely, he waited for two hours and thirty-six minutes. Then he heard Iggy knocking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bye Mick. Pops is completely hammered, I’ll try to drag him out, wish me luck,” he said. Mickey only replied with a “Goodbye”.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Closing time had arrived and now he could finally shut himself down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Androids didn’t dream, but being unconscious was better than being awake. He would wake up just in time to open the door for Sheila. He didn’t see the point in staying up and feeling like shit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So he closed his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>When he opened them it was just the right time to open to Sheila. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The gynoid smiled at him and, even if he knew she didn’t really mean anything by it, that smile felt motherly and well accepted. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello sweetie. How are you today?” she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Huh, could be better,” Mickey replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In an unexpected gesture, Sheila raised her hand to softly caress his cheek. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Today might be a rainy day, but it will get better,” she said. Then, as if she had just remembered where she was, she moved away from him and went straight to fetch the cleaning appliances.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey touched his cheek. It had felt good, even if weird. He decided to not dwell on it and go back to the office to do some work.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Math was good, numbers were good. They provided the perfect distraction and, when the cleaning gynoid came to tell him she was done for the day, he barely registered her words.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I left the bucket in Mr Milkovich’s office, just in case,” she said. “Bye Mickey, feel better!”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Mickey only nodded and another hour passed swiftly. He could’ve continued this way until opening hours, but a loud knocking at the entrance, made him stop. He had a hunch of who it could be, and hearing Ian’s shouting only confirmed his suspicions.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wasn’t ready to have a discussion with the man, and yet he was a sucker for seeing his face once more. It took another couple knockings and the fear of Ian being too loud and alerting the neighborhood, for Mickey to finally decide to confront him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He opened the door and found himself in front of a very agitated redhead. The man looked worse than the time when they had had the fight. His hair was a mess, he had circles under his eyes, which were red and puffy as if he had been crying until very recently.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mickey…” he sighed, as soon as he saw the android. He tried to grab his arm, but Mickey was faster and walked back towards the bar, leaving Ian empty handed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You shouldn’t be here Gallagher,” Mickey said, trying to remain composed. “And Iggy could come any moment now. I don’t think it’d be wise to have him find you here with me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t give a fuck about Iggy,” Ian spat, coming closer. “I don’t give a fuck about anyone. Just you.” This time, Mickey let him touch his arm. “Please, don’t say it’s over.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Mickey wished nothing more than for things with Ian to continue, but that was not a possibility. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know that it’s not possible.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian shook his head. That fucking, adorable, pigheaded bastard. “No. That’s not true. We can make it work. We just have to be more careful. And, and you said it yourself. Iggy won’t hurt you. I’m sure that, with time,  he’d come to understand us and meanwhile he can help us. I don’t know, covering with Terry or something.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Mickey smiled at Ian’s plan. Between the two of them, Ian was undoubtedly the positive one. Mickey was more realistic and, in this case, the one who could save them from a situation that could put their lives at risk.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That sounds nice,” he said. “But also stupidly naive, basically only adding one person to the danger.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“At least I’m coming up with solutions!” Ian snapped. “It’s like you’re not even trying!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know, and I am asking you to do the same. We had a good run, but there’s too much risk in continuing what we are doing.” Mickey was working really hard at maintaining his calm. He felt Ian’s desperation and all he wanted to do was hug him and tell him that everything was going to be alright. Only, it would be a big fat lie. Ian needed to accept how things were. He himself had to. “You are young, we can give it a few years and then, maybe, if things are looking better and you are still interested, we could try again. You just need to wait.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian snorted. He was looking at Mickey as if he had said the world’s dumbest thing. “Wait? I waited years already.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian’s words caught him dumbfounded. The redhead sighed. “What? Did you think I didn’t have feelings for you when we started? I was already in deep, Mick.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He seemed to mull over his words, gnawing at his bottom lip as if he was trying to restrain himself from revealing something more. Then he shook his head. “The hell with it,” he muttered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you want to know the truth? The free enhancement? It wasn’t free. It’s a pretty expensive upgrade for a very small niche of the market. But when I stumbled on it, after a client’s request, I knew I had to give it to you.” He scoffed. “You know, Mick. I was prepared to simply upgrade you and then let you go, able to feel and fuck, I was ready to see you with someone, a robot or a human, and be happy for you. Well, I would’ve been fucking jealous, but I would have accepted it. But you… You chose </span>
  <em>
    <span>me</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Mickey. Me. And I’ve never been happier in my life as I have been these past few months. I have waited years, pining over someone who wouldn’t even see me. And now that you do, you are asking me to wait some more. I can’t do that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey had never suspected that Ian had been harbouring feelings for him for years. He had never thought of it even as a possibility, because before the upgrade feelings had been a strange and mysterious thing. After, he had been so focused on his own growth that he had started thinking about his own feelings for Ian only recently.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You never told me that,” Mickey said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian shrugged. “Things were going so well between us… I would have told you, eventually. I just wanted to be certain of what you felt for me first.” He looked at Mickey, his eyes lucid. “But it’s clear now that you are not even closely near to where I am with you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey reached out to Ian’s hand, taking it in his own. “I had no idea.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian scoffed. “Yeah.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian’s tone was bitter, but he did let him touch him. Mickey was still processing the new information. He was just starting to understand the depth of what feelings were and new, extraordinary information had just been thrown at him. At that moment, he decided to focus on calming Ian down. He didn’t want the man to be angry at him, but he also had to accept the reality of things, as bad as it was.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You have to know I care about you too,” he started. But Ian shook his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No you don’t!” Ian shouted. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I do!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then prove it!” He cupped Mickey’s face with his palms. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>I </span>
  </em>
  <span>care about you! That’s all I care about. And I know it’s fucking risky, us being together, but I’m willing to take a chance on us because I love you, Mickey,” </span>
  <em>
    <span>Love</span>
  </em>
  <span>. A concept that had been so foreign for Mickey for most of his life. He had watched it in movies, but without really understanding the meaning. He couldn’t see real love in the facial expression of the actors, and in the Milkovich family and associates love had never really been a priority. Now he could see that Ian was sincere in his words and Mickey felt hope. For them. For their fucked up situation. “And I’m willing to do whatever is necessary for us to keep being together. You just say the word, and I’m going to take you away from here. What do you say?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey thought about it. He really did. It would’ve been crazy risky, but maybe, with Iggy’s help...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They both jumped when they heard the sound of a gun cocking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t need to answer that, Mickey,” Terry said, a hand massaging his temple and the other with a gun, pointed straight at Ian. “I’m gonna fucking kill you, boy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Terry, just put the gun down,” Mickey said, not moving an inch. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You shut the hell up!” Terry shouted. “I can’t fucking believe I wake up from a bad hangover to find the two of you talking about… What the fuck is this shit!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian moved, shielding Mickey from the other man. “I want to take Mickey with me,” the redhead said. Mickey was aware that Ian was trying hard to maintain a poker face, but he was downright scared. “Name your price. I’ll give it to you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You want to buy Mickey,” Terry scoffed. His stance was wobbly at best, he was still hammered from the previous night, but the pistol was perfectly aimed at Ian’s head. “As if I’d ever let you have my computer. Which you have fucking ruined, by the way. Imma have to get you reset or something Mick. No more of this disgusting shit.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t fucking touch Mickey!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No! Ian stop!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian charged against Terry, before Mickey could stop him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Terry fired his gun. Only due to his surprise for Ian’s sudden attack, did he miss the target. The bullet only slightly grazed the man’s right ear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fuck!” Ian pressed a hand against his ear, in pain. Mickey moved closer to him to help, but Terry shoved him away, making him slam against the wall. The older man was on Ian, starting pummeling fists into his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Leave him alone!” Mickey shouted. He had been divided, at first. But all his sense of loyalty towards Terry left him the moment he first punched Ian. The android jumped on the man’s back, trying to keep him away from the redhead.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the fuck, Mickey!” Terry was visibly surprised by his android’s rebellion and briefly turned his attention to him to get him off his back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was almost ready to blow his head off with his gun, when Iggy entered the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Pops stop!” he shouted, managing to take his gun off his father. Mickey seized the moment to free himself from Terry as well, crouching beside Ian, who was in pain for a broken nose.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Iggy, you fucking-” Terry snarled. “Give me back my gun or I swear I’m gonna kill you too!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey watched in surprise as Iggy shook his head and said:</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No Pops. I’ve just called the police. Markovich is gonna be here any moment.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>As if on cue, the sound of police sirens became louder and louder. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re going to regret this, I swear, fuckhead” Terry growled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey heard Ian exhale a sigh of relief. Tony Markovich was a cop, but he was a good friend of the Gallagher family. He wouldn’t let anything bad happen to Ian, even if he was on the Milkovich's payroll. Mickey also knew that Tony preferred Iggy to Terry and that gave him a little hope for himself too. It wouldn’t have been the first time for Tony to function as a peacemaker between Milkovich senior and his sons.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry, Mick, I’ve got you,” Iggy said. His words seemed sincere and so were his eyes, until the police barged in. One woman and three men, not one of them was Tony Markovich.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where the fuck is Tony? I asked for him,” Iggy said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>One of the male cops sneered. “We are not a fucking escort service. Markovich is sick at home today. Now, what seems to be the problem?”</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>As a Southside rule, no one from the neighborhood would ever talk to the cops. Whatever the issue was, it would have to be resolved amongst peers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But when no one answered the cop’s question, the police decided to grab Terry, who looked like the culprit, judging by his red knuckles and Ian’s red face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The old man, without really thinking it through, shouted:</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Take him! He’s the robot lover here!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The cops took in the scene of Ian and Mickey. Just by their expression, the android braced himself for what they were going to say.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you saying that this man is in a relationship with the android?” the female cop asked, pointing at Ian.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Terry nodded. “Yep.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sir? Is that true?” she addressed to Ian, this time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian looked at Mickey, who slightly shook his head at him. Ian should just say no and deny every accusation Terry might throw at him. The police would let him go and then Terry would deal with Mickey. But at least Gallagher would be safe.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I,” Ian gulped. “I just wanted to purchase Mickey from him, but he wouldn’t let me.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>She nodded. “So was it your intention to steal Mr Milkovich’s property?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian’s eyes widened. Mickey could fairly guess what was going on in that head of his. Stealing a robot was a felony that could result in five to ten years of prison, plus fine and his career in robotics would be over. Declaring instead his love for Mickey would result in six months to a year in probably a psychiatric facility, career pending after a mental evaluation, and Mickey would be taken and disassembled or reprogrammed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t be stupid…” Mickey whispered. Ian had to deny her question. He had to choose the lesser evil for him. Mickey doubted Terry would spare him a reprogramming anyway and at least Ian wouldn’t go to prison.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes he did!” Terry said with a grin. Ian in prison and Mickey still in his grasp was putting him in a good mood, even if he hated having to deal with the pigs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sir?” she asked again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian gave Mickey a tiny smile. Then nodded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, it was.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Following his words, the police picked Ian up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey couldn’t let them. It wasn’t fair for him to bear all the consequences. Not when he had already given him so much.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait!” Mickey called them. “He wasn’t trying to steal me, we really are in a relationship.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mickey no!” yelled both Ian and Iggy in unison.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The android didn’t listen to them. “My owner found us and decided to take the matter into his own hands.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The police stopped in their tracks. It was clear from their faces that they were not used to listening to an android, so they were looking at each other as if one could come up with the right decision.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The woman moved closer to Mickey.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You do understand that if you corroborate Mr Milkovich’s first accusation, we will have to take you into custody and you will face probable destruction,” she said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey nodded. He made the mistake of looking at Ian, who was shaking his head and for a second his decision faltered. He didn’t want to make Ian suffer. But he had to do this in order to save him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey sighed. “I do understand. But it’s the truth.”</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>It took all the strength the two police officers who were holding Ian had, to restrain the redhead when the female cop decided to go with Mickey’s version.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Terry too was furious and only a gun pointed to his face stopped him from bouncing the third guy. Once the old man had understood that they were going to take Mickey away, he started growling that he would take care of his fucking toaster and that they had no right. But they did, and, as they had said, they also had the right to arrest him on the spot if he resisted some more, and maybe check if the club was all in order. Terry raised his hands, telling them to fuck off but also not moving anymore.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Iggy accompanied the police, Ian and Mickey outside the establishment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m so sorry, Mick,” he said. He was in a panic. “I called for Tony. I thought he would take Ian away from Terry. Then we would’ve settled things. I know we could’ve sorted everything out. I didn’t….”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Iggy sighed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry, man. It’s okay. You warned me, we should’ve been more careful,” Mickey said, escorted by the female officer. Resisting was useless at that point. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The officers restrained Ian by pushing him against the hood of the car and putting him in handcuffs. All the while, Ian was continuing to argue he was the only guilty one and that they should let Mickey go. The officers seemed to have tuned him out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ian’s eyes met Mickey’s. His face was bloody, but Mickey still found it handsome.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then Ian cried. He wasn’t wailing, he wasn’t cursing anymore, tears were simply rolling down his cheeks, shaping white streaks into red canvas.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I love you”, his lips mouthed, without emitting a sound.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was it. Mickey was trying to be strong, but he couldn’t take it anymore. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He exploited his bland restraint, only a hand resting on his shoulder, and launched himself on Ian, taking everybody off-guard. If he had to go, if his mind and his whole being had to be erased forever, he would take with him at least one more memory of Ian. A tender one.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey kissed his redhead on the lips.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Just for a couple seconds, really. The officers were quick enough to gather their bearings and separate the two, but Mickey would never forget that kiss.That metallic and salty taste. At least until they would turn him off for good -</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ah. There it was.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A touch underneath his chin. A quick, clicking sound, and that was it. Eyes closed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was over.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Done.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>…</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Something was wrong. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mickey was forced to open his eyes by his internal security protocol, which must have kicked in for some reasons. The ISP would activate only in situations of danger when the robot was off, it was a standard procedure installed in every robot, but Mickey had never tried it before.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looked around. It took him a total of two seconds to realize he was in a police car and that the police car was upside down. They were all upside down. He and the two police officers who were presumably dead… No. One dead, one unconscious.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>All of a sudden the door closest to him opened and a pair of arms grabbed him and dragged him out of the car.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was met by a familiar couple of gynoids. The closest to him with a wicked smile, the other with a rifle rested against her shoulder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Told ya we could meet again,” Sandy said, helping him to stand up. “Just didn’t think it would be so soon.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who cares. Welcome to the Children of Galatea, Mickey,” Mandy greeted him.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>- So this is like the end of the first part</p><p>- "Not a person." <br/>When Mickey says that it reminded me of the "not a girl" from the series the good place 😂</p><p>- They probably have guns that don't need to cock with a sound but Terry loves old stuff. Guns that fire real bullets,  you know, 'real man's stuff</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Reunification</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Six months later</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span class="u">
    <strong>Six months later</strong>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>Lip stood up when his brother entered the visitation room. </p><p>"Hey," he greeted him, patting him on the back.</p><p>“Hey yourself,” Ian said, reciprocating the gesture. It was actually good to feel a familiar touch. He went to take a seat next to Lip.</p><p>“So, spa time is ending soon, eh?” Lip asked.</p><p>Ian exhaled a long breath, nodding. “Can’t be soon enough.”<br/>He couldn’t take it anymore. </p><p>Yeah, it was true, all the money they had paid his lawyer had managed to land him a cushy punishment, if one could say. The Gallaghers had settled with the DA by paying a conspicuous fine but also obtaining a clear criminal record for Ian and a six months spa time, meaning minimum time at a very bland psychiatric facility. Ian still had to guzzle pills down his throats, but other than that, he had a comfortable single room and lots of free time. Still, that wouldn’t mean he wanted to spend a longer time there than what was mandatory.</p><p>The day after, Ian Gallagher would become a free man again, as if he had never been convicted. As if he had never fallen in love with a robot.</p><p>Lip nodded.</p><p>“I bet. And again, I’m sorry I can’t come to pick you up,” he said. “But I have booked you a car that will take you directly to your place to relax. I gotta  warn you: Fiona is preparing a welcome back party for you. I only managed to make her postpone it a day.”<br/>That information made Ian smile a bit. Fiona organizing a party, all his family attending and bothering him. It was actually something he could look forward to. A good distraction.</p><p>“Any excuse goes for a party, huh?”</p><p>Lip chuckled. “You know how she is. She just wants to cheer you up a little.”<br/>Ian could appreciate the effort. He decided he would try to have fun, or at least look like it.</p><p>“Sure… So, will you actually be able to make it? I mean you’re going to get your head open in like, five hours.”</p><p>“Yeah man, no problem.” Lip was rubbing his hands together, a clear sign he was both nervous and excited about his scheduled operation. “Between pre op, op and post op I’ll be out in seven hours and then I’ll just sleep tomorrow… Again, I apologize. I really wanted to come pick you up,  but when the only surgeon I’d trust with an operation on my brain is here in town for a couple days, I have to take the chance.”</p><p>Ian nodded. He knew that Lip was hardheaded, at least as much as he was, and that nothing Ian or their family could ever say to him, would make him change his mind. </p><p>That didn’t mean he couldn’t at least try.</p><p>“Are you sure? About the operation?” Ian asked. “Have you thought about the consequences?”</p><p>What his brother was about to do would change his life completely. First of all, it was a risky procedure and quite pioneristic, to say the least. While robots had been born with the ability of a perfect memory, their brain flawless archives of untarnished data, humans were just now embarking on an artificial evolution that would give them the possibility of never forgetting anything ever again, every bad or good experience always at their disposal. The operation wasn’t only dangerous on the operation table, but also, and particularly, after. The studies that existed on the matter based on the few patients that had undergone the surgery, had shown too many different outcomes, even negative such as rejection and apathy. Memory was something risky to tamper with and it could alter anyone’s personality irreversibly. In Lip cases the change would be even greater because the brain surgery consisted in mixing natural with artificial elements and therefore it would ratify Lip’s official identity from human to cyborg.</p><p>“Of course I did,” Lip said. Ian wished he could trust him, but his brother had been known to be reckless when it came to find ways to fuck up his life. They were similar also in that department. He placed a hand on Ian’s thigh. “Don’t worry, Ian. Next time we see each other, it will still be me.”</p><p>That wasn’t true. “Not for the state, no.”</p><p>Lip rolled his eyes. “Fuck the state. They change their minds about what is artificial and what is human at every political change. Now I’ll admit it, it’s bad, but it doesn’t mean anything. And cyborgs are still treated as humans.”</p><p>“But you are registered.”<br/>His brother sighed, slightly annoyed. “If that will eventually become a problem I’ll find a way around it, I always do, don’t worry. And anyway no one wants to get on my bad side. We Gallaghers have a name in this fucking city thanks to our work.” <br/>Lip seemed so sure, Ian almost felt as if he was worrying about nothing, as if all his fears were without sustenance. But he had seen what the state could do when someone crosses the line.</p><p>“I really hope you’re right, Lip,” Ian said. “I just don’t want what happened to me to happen to you too.”</p><p>What had happened to Mickey.</p><p>Ian had no idea about Mickey’s fate. The last time he had seen him, the android had been hauled into the police car, unconscious and completely defenceless, directed to the Center where they would have decided whether to disassemble or reprogram him. Ian had asked his family for help as soon as they had granted him a call. He had to blurt out everything, come clean about his relationship with Mickey, but his siblings had promised to track the android’s whereabouts and, in case Mickey was to be reprogrammed, they would purchase him for Ian, in a way or another. Not a day later, Fiona had told him that the police car Mickey had been riding in, had been blown up and the android seemed to have vanished into thin air. At first Ian had suspected that the Milkoviches had had something to do with it, but Iggy had denied everything. The poor fucker had come to see Ian at the psychiatric facility to ask for forgiveness. Ian had been tempted to just tell him to get the fuck away from his face, but Iggy had seemed so pitiful and sad that whatever resentment Ian had against him just ceased and the two had spent visitation time reminiscing memories about Mickey.</p><p>Ian missed him so much. </p><p>A six months sentence in there would have been nothing - hell, ten years of prison would’ve been nothing- if he had had Mickey to come home to. Even if reprogrammed. He had swore he would’ve made him remember, or at least he would’ve made him his Mickey again.</p><p>Instead Mickey was nowhere to be seen. He had never reached the Center, he was not in the Milkovich’s hands, he was gone. Ian could only hope that wherever he might be, Mickey was safe and still himself.</p><p>Ian had all the intentions of searching for Mickey as soon as he would be out of that fucking place.</p><p>Just one day left.</p><p>“It won’t,” Lip said. “And even if it does… I am okay with it. Things will change in the future, only if people like you and me do something now, in the present.”</p><p>His brother stood up. He sighed.</p><p>“So, I’ll see you at the party, yeah?”</p><p>Ian nodded. Lip wanted to end the subject and visitation time was over anyway, he could go along with it.</p><p>“Yeah. See you.”</p><p>Lip patted him on the shoulder and exited the room, leaving Ian alone once again.</p><p>Just one fucking day left.</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>The next day, Ian was outside the facility with a duffel bag strapped onto his shoulder. There was a black SUV parked not too far from the main entrance, but far enough that Ian didn’t think it was the car Lip had booked for him.</p><p>The driver had to honk to make the redhead decide to get closer to the SUV.</p><p>“Ian Gallagher?”</p><p>The driver asked. The man was wearing black sunglasses and wasn’t looking at Ian directly, keeping his head down.</p><p>Something was wrong, but he didn’t know what exactly. It was more of a sensation that was making Ian stalling instead of hopping in the car.</p><p>“It’s Ian Gallagher, right?” the driver asked again.</p><p>The question brought Ian back from his thoughts. The man knew his name so it must be the car that Lip had booked for him.</p><p>“Y-Yeah, I…”</p><p>His words trailed off when he saw another car pull over in the open space, right in front of the entrance of the facility. Right where Ian would’ve expected the car to wait for him.</p><p>“Is that…” Ian started saying, before he heard the back door closer to him open. The figure of a man jumped out of the car and all of a sudden Ian was thrown inside the SUV and his head covered with a hood that covered his sight completely</p><p>“What the fuck!” he screamed, trying to wriggle out of the man - men’s?- hold, but it was all for nothing. The car started moving and he was being immobilized by four strong hands. “Let me go!”<br/>What the fuck was happening? Who were these people? What did they want from him? His mind went in different directions, but all he knew was that he needed to break free. He faked calming down and he felt the hands on him relaxing as well.</p><p>Big mistake on their part.</p><p>Ian’s legs were free and he kicked the man on his right, while he headbutted the man on his left. He didn’t know if he was hitting them in the right spots, he just knew he needed to get the fuck out of the situation and he was ready to jump out of a moving car if he had to.</p><p>During the struggle the hood was slightly coming off, and it fell in the car when Ian tried to escape from what he could now see was a woman’s arms.</p><p>“Just stay still, fucking meatbag!” the man yelled at him, finally getting a hold of his legs. </p><p>No, not a man.</p><p>An android.</p><p>Ian turned his head and was met by bright purple eyes and a familiar looking gynoid who he couldn’t pinpoint if he had met her before.</p><p>She rolled her eyes.</p><p>“Well, good fucking job at holding him,” she said to the other robot.</p><p>“Hey it was your job too!”</p><p>The other protested before she kicked him in the shin and attacked Ian, this time managing to keep him in a strong grip that the redhead couldn’t wiggle out of.</p><p>“If you want something done, do it yourself…” He heard her mutter.</p><p>Ian moved some more but she wouldn’t budge. “Let me go!”</p><p>“Yeah, loverboy. We’re almost there,” she said.</p><p>“Almost there?” </p><p>“You’ll see.”</p><p>He didn’t want to see. Or he did. He was fucking curious. He had never heard of a kidnapping done by robots. He could bet that the driver was an android as well, and the sunglasses only helped hiding his bright eyes. He couldn’t deny that the fact that his capturers were robots didn’t spark a small hope in his heart. Even if he was scared, he just couldn’t help it.</p><p>The car came to an abrupt stop and the android opened the door. Ian didn't even have the time to see the light coming from outside that he was tossed on the ground. </p><p>“Hey! What the fuck! I told you to treat him nicely!”</p><p>Ian’s head perked up immediately at the sound of that brash voice. God, he had missed that voice. He had been missing it for months.</p><p>He looked up and there he was. Mickey.</p><p>The android looked even better than usual, if possible. His dark hair was slicked back, shaved on the side of his head. He was wearing new clothes too. Ian just wanted to touch him, but his senses were still alarmed by the whole situation with the robots in the car.</p><p>“Mickey?” he whispered. At the same time the gynoid chuckled.</p><p>“That was our intention. Not our fault your fleshy got suspicious and then tried to escape.”</p><p>“Fuck off.” Mickey groaned and gave Ian his hand to help him up. “You could’ve told him that I sent you.”<br/>She shrugged, everything in her demenour screaming she didn’t fucking care. “It was funnier this way. Anyway, you got two hours.”</p><p>Having said that, she closed the door of the SUV and the happy trio drove away, leaving Ian alone with Mickey. Ian realized they were next to the bleachers of an unused old school. The baseball yard in front of them was growing weeds and who knows what else.</p><p>“Fucking Sandy, I swear…” the android muttered, shaking his head. “She’s fiercely loyal, but such a pain in the ass.”<br/>It seemed that Mickey wanted to talk about that fucking gynoid, but Ian was having none of that. He couldn’t bear it for another second, not touching Mickey but for the hand still linked to the android’s. Ian pulled the brunet closer and hugged him tightly, burying his nose against the other’s neck.</p><p>For a moment he thought Mickey was going to shove him away, but the hug lasted for several moments, neither of them willing to detach themselves.</p><p>“I-I missed you,” Ian whispered. He felt Mickey’s arms enveloping him even tighter.</p><p>“Missed you too, man,” the brunet replied, kissing Ian on the neck.</p><p>The hug loosened a bit, just enough that they could see each other’s face.</p><p>Ian smiled. “Hi.”<br/>He kissed the tip of his nose.</p><p>Mickey rolled his eyes at the gesture, but his lips couldn’t help it and formed a smile anyway.</p><p>“Hi,” he replied. And then he kissed him on the mouth. At first slowly, as if he was rediscovering a taste. Then fast, and aggressive, and demanding. Ian responded accordingly, moving his hands up Mickey’s body and placing them on the brunet’s cheeks.</p><p>The kiss turned more and more heated as the minutes passed and they were on a full making out session.</p><p>“This place is as remote as it gets,” Mickey said, detaching from Ian’s lips. He wiggled his eyebrows in that manner Ian was used to, and at the same time the gesture was new, more… more disinhibited. More natural. </p><p>Ian had questions to ask Mickey, he wanted to talk to him. He needed to know how he escaped,  who were the robots from before. If he had suffered as much as he did being separated. But everything could wait. First he had to feel Mickey again. Being as close to him as it could get. </p><p>He turned Mickey around, who gladly let him. They got rid only of the clothing that covered the lower half of their bodies. Ian wanted to take things slow, but it was for another time. In that moment, everything happened so fast, and soon they were fucking underneath the bleachers.</p><p>
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</p><p>“So yeah, after Mandy and Sandy helped me, I still didn’t have anywhere else to go, so I stayed with them,” Mickey was explaining. The android was resting his head on Ian’s lap, while the redhead sat on the ground. It wasn’t exactly a clean space, but it would do. </p><p>“I mean, what could I do? Going back to Terry? Not a chance. I still don’t know if I should let Iggy know I’m alive, though,” Mickey pondered.</p><p>Iggy would surely appreciate knowing that, Ian thought. But he decided to say something else instead.</p><p>“You weren’t sure about letting me know, at first?” he asked.</p><p>Mickey looked up, meeting Ian’s eyes.</p><p>“For a moment,” he admitted. “I knew where you were and I knew that the court has been quite lenient with you, but I didn’t want to screw things up for you.” He shrugged. “Then I decided otherwise.”<br/>He looked down. Ian smiled. Was Mickey becoming bashful? That was new.</p><p>“I’m glad you did,” he said. “I was dying to know what had happened to you.”<br/>“I’m glad your six months in there didn’t change you.”</p><p>Ian laughed. “If anything, they made me even more resistant to their doctrine,” he said. Then, with a softer tone. “And they made me even more sure of my feelings for you. That they can’t be wrong.”<br/>Mickey sighed at his words, in his completely unique sort of sigh without really exhaling any breath. Ian would’ve found that reaction endearing in any other moment, but this time he braced himself for Mickey’s reply.</p><p>That never came. </p><p>At least not what Ian had been expecting.</p><p>“Things are going to be different from now on,” Mickey said, raising himself up to a sitting position. “You can’t come with me, they don’t accept humans. Letting me see you today was already a huge fucking favor.”</p><p>“So you mean we can’t see each other anymore?” Ian asked. Already not accepting that for a second. He had just found Mickey again.</p><p>Mickey scoffed. “What? Nah. Sneaking out is a piece of cake. We’ll be able to see each other often. Not just as often as before, and it’s gonna be in places like this. I don’t think it’s safe for  us to meet at your place.”</p><p>Ian wasn’t very happy with the situation, he didn’t want to hide, but he knew this was the best solution for the moment. So he had to agree.</p><p>He sighed, a painfully long sigh with all the breath he could muster for the occasion, and nodded.</p><p>“Alright, but just so you know, I’m choosing our next venue. I got dirt down my asscrack, no thank you.”</p><p>The android chuckled and nodded.</p><p>
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</p><p>He wasn’t sure how many turns Mickey had taken, but they were a lot. Still, Ian followed him quietly, trying as hard as he might to keep himself concealed. </p><p>After a month of clandestine meetings and closed lips, Ian had finally relented and decided to tail his motherfucking android and discover where he was going. He knew it was kind of wrong but he frankly didn’t care. He had always been relentless in everything he had set his mind to do and this time would be no different.</p><p>Mickey took a right turn once again and, after a few more steps, he entered in what looked like a disused old factory.</p><p>Ian followed him right inside.</p><p>He had all the intentions of manifesting himself to Mickey, but he was prevented by a hard blow to the head, that made him fall on the ground like a giant sack of potatoes. </p><p>“And here I thought our behavior last time would've made you wary of meeting us again. I guess fucking breathers can’t never learn their lesson, can they?”</p><p>The ginoyd from the car jumped on him, ready to strike another punch. </p><p>Ian readied himself for the beating of a lifetime.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Fleshy, breather and meatbag are slurs for humans used by robots</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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